Obama: Powell will have roll in administration

[agzg]

Originally Posted by AGDee

I love my sister! But she meant THIS roll: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65I0HNvTDH4

Ahhh! You fixed my post! Thanks!

[KSig RC]

Well, at least we can put to rest those claims of Powell's support as a "low-risk, high-reward" timing-based move . . . oh.

[LightBulb]

Originally Posted by nikki1920

I respect Obama for choosing someone who has his own mind and is not afraid to challenge his "boss".

I hope so. That was part of the reason why Lincoln was such an effective president despite his inexperience: he surrounded himself with the best in each field, even though they hated each other (and some even wanted his job).

[CrackerBarrel]

Originally Posted by nikki1920

I respect Obama for choosing someone who has his own mind and is not afraid to challenge his "boss".

Like I said, I respect Powell a lot, but that's just not an accurate portrayal of what happened. You can respect him for what kind of a man he is and his obvious understanding of foreign affairs, but he doesn't win any liberal points for standing up to the Bush administration. He was the man who showed the "theoretical anthrax" and said there was no doubt in his mind that Saddam had biological weapons in front of the UN and was the man tapped to try to put a coalition together in the Security Council. His only disagreement on Iraq was with Rumsfeld when he (Powell) said that we needed more troops.

Originally Posted by Washington Post

Many assumed that he had privately argued against such a clearly misguided adventure and been overruled.In fact, Powell had never advised against the Iraq invasion, although he had warned Bush of the difficulties and counseled patience. He had no reason to resign over Iraq, he told questioners.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2700106_2.html

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

As was the case in the days leading up to the Persian Gulf War, Powell was initially opposed to a forcible overthrow of Hussein, preferring to continue a policy of containment. However, Powell eventually agreed to go along with the Bush administration's determination to remove Hussein.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_P...etary_of_State

He left the Cabinet when Bush requested his resignation so he could shuffle the Cabinet positions after reelection, not because there was some huge disagreement that he had with the rest of the White House.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

Well, at least we can put to rest those claims of Powell's support as a "low-risk, high-reward" timing-based move . . . oh.

Haha, seriously. The guy's a Washington insider, and a pretty smart one at that, so I give him credit for seeing the inevitable conclusion and jumping on before it was too late.

It's also low-risk, high-reward for Obama. Powell's beliefs are sufficiently moderate that bringing him on board won't cause much of a stir, but his resume could bring a voter or two. Again, I don't think it will have much of an effect in the polls (taking into account Obama's large lead and Powell's political views), but it certainly doesn't hurt.

[RU OX Alum]

Powell is awesome. I'm glad he will be an advisor to Obama. However, I don't think he said that just to get a job. People had be asking him for a while. I'm sure his endorsement swayed a few independent/undecided voters.