Is Powell paying back the neo-cons?
It will be interesting to see the impact of Colin Powell's defection to Obama because nobody should be surprised that he is endorsing the Democratic candidate for president, regardless of the fact that both are black. Powell has always been on the touchy, feely side of the Republican party, even when he was tipped as a possible Republican presidential contender himself.
But what I have just learned, thanks to a new book by a Washington Post investigative reporter assessing Vice President Dick Cheney, was that while Mr Powell was secretary of state and a rival of Mr Cheney for George Bush's ear, the Cheney people used to refer to the state department to "an Al Qa'ida cell" because of the department's concern for "due process" for terrorists. (Here's another example of his famous caution: Madeleine Albright, the secretary of state under Bill Clinton, recalls in her memoirs Powell's reluctance to use force in Bosnia. "What are you saving this superb military for, Colin, if we can't use it?" she said.)
So for Powell, his endorsement of Obama is payback time for the neo-cons.
What do others think?