Colin Powell endorsement goes to Barack Obama, again
Colin Powell endorsement: The former Secretary of State said he's backing Obama for reelection. The endorsement comes while Colin Powell says he's still a Republican.
Colin Powell endorsement: Former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed President Barack Obama in his bid for re-election, citing the Democratic president's efforts to wind down the war in Afghanistan and tackling terrorism. Powell shown here at the White House in 2010.
REUTERS/Jim Young/Files
Washington
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, a longtime Republican, is sticking with President Barack Obama in this year's election.
He tells "CBS This Morning" he respects Mitt Romney but thinks he's been vague on many issues.
Speaking of Obama, Powell said the president got the United States out of Iraq and has laid out a plan for leaving Afghanistan "and didn't get us into any new wars."
He praises Obama's economic performance, saying that while difficult choices are ahead on taxes, spending and budgetary policies, "steadily, I think we've begun to come out of the dive and we're gaining altitude." Powell, a retired general, also formerly was a White House chief of staff and chairman of the military's Joint Chief of Staffs.
Powell says that he's still a Republican.
When Powell endorsed Obama in the 2008 election he said: "...he has met the standard of being a sucessful president, being an exceptional president. I think he is a transformational figure. He is a new generation coming into the world-- onto the world state, onto the American stage, and for that reason I'll be voting for Senator Barack Obama."
In the last election, Powell was joined by several high profile Republicans including Lincoln Chafee, the former US Senator from Rhode Island, and Ken Duberstein, former White House Chief of Staff under Ronald Reagan, according to the Republicans for Obama website.
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Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.