Colin Powell Endorsement Backlash
October 31, 2012By Tiffani Knowles

Some Republicans have taken issue with the endorsement of President Obama by Former Secretary of State Colin Powell.


John Sununu, former White House Chief of Staff under George H.W. Bush, claimed that since Bush - who was at one time Powell's "boss" endorsed Romney all along - he "wonders whether that's an endorsement based on issues or whether [Powell's] got a slightly different reason."


The "reason" Sununu is eluding to is race.


The ironic thing is that Sununu's comment may be too little too late as Powell officially broke with the Republican party four years ago during the 2008 election.


Despite the fact that he had no war record or foreign policy experience, Powell labeled then-candidate Barack Obama as a "transformational figure," endorsing him as his candidate of choice instead of party-mate John McCain.


On October 25, Powell came out again publicly for Obama on "CBS This Morning."


When he took over, the country was in very difficult straits. We were in the one of the worst recessions we had seen in recent times, close to a depression. The fiscal system was collapsing. Wall Street was in chaos, we had 800,000 jobs lost in that first month of the Obama administration and unemployment peaked a few months later at 10 percent. So we were in real trouble. The auto industry was collapsing, the housing was start[ing] to collapse and we were in very difficult straits. And I saw over the next several years, stabilization come back in the financial community, housing is now starting to pick up after four years, it's starting to pick up. Consumer confidence is rising.


Powell officially explained why he couldn't - in good conscience - endorse Governor Romney by stating that the Republican candidate Mitt Romney's changed his positions on international affairs. 


"One day he has a certain strong view about staying in Afghanistan but then on Monday night he agrees with the withdrawal, same thing in Iraq," said Powell. "On almost every issue that was discussed on Monday night, Governor Romney agreed with the President with some nuances. But this is quite a different set of foreign policy views than he had earlier in the campaign. And my concern ... is that sometimes I don't sense that he has thought through these issues as thoroughly as he should have."


After giving a very lengthy explanation for his choice, Romney supporter Sununu told CNN's Piers Morgan:


"Well, I think when you have somebody of your own race that you are proud of being president of the United States, I applaud Colin for standing with him."


The Romney campaign later walked back Sununu's statement, sending out an email on his behalf calling Powell a "friend" and expressing "respect" for his decision.



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