Obama gets endorsement from Republican Colin Powell

Washington: With just days to go before the US presidential election, Barack Obama today got a boost when former secretary of state Colin Powell, a Republican, endorsed his re-election bid. "I voted for him (Obama) in 2008 and I plan to stick with him in 2012 and I`ll be voting for he and for Vice President Joe Biden next month," Powell said during an interview on CBS programme "This Morning." Powell said that when Obama, the first African-American president, took over in 2008, the country was in very very difficult straits. Washington: With just days to go before the US presidential election, Barack Obama today got a boost when former secretary of state Colin Powell, a Republican, endorsed his re-election bid.

"I voted for him (Obama) in 2008 and I plan to stick with him in 2012 and I`ll be voting for he and for Vice President Joe Biden next month," Powell said during an interview on CBS programme "This Morning." Powell said that when Obama, the first African-American president, took over in 2008, the country was in very very difficult straits. Summarising the past four years under Obama, Powell said "Generally we`ve come out of the dive and we`re starting to gain altitude." He acknowledged that problems remain, saying "The unemployment rate is too high, people are still hurting in housing but I see that we`re starting to rise up." On foreign policy, Powell, 75, the first African- American chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said, he saw "the president get us of one war, start to get us out of a second war and did not get us into any new wars. And finally I think that the actions he has taken with respect to protecting us from terrorism have been very very solid. And so, I think we ought to keep on the track that we are on." Powell expressed his concern about Republican candidate Mitt Romney`s changing positions on international affairs. "One day he has a certain strong view about staying in Afghanistan but then on Monday night (third presidential debate) he agrees with the withdrawal, same thing in Iraq. 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." And, despite his endorsement of a Democratic candidate in two presidential elections, Powell says he remains a Republican. "I think I`m a Republican of a more moderate mold," he said before adding, "That`s something of a dying breed I`m sorry to say." "With respect to Governor Romney, I have the utmost respect to him but as I listen to what his proposals are especially with respect to dealing with our most significant issue, the economy, it`s essentially let`s cut taxes and compensate for that with other things. But that compensation does not cover all of the cuts intended or the new expenses associated with defence," Powell said. PTI