More About Powell’s Potential Pick
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Barack, Foreign Policy, McCain, Military
At this point, it’s looking to be Obama. Because apparently McCain hasn’t been in touch with Powell for months!
Now, that doesn’t mean Powell will necessarily give a standard endorsement on MTP tomorrow. And honestly, this would fit with his demeanor. But saying something like, “I think we need a change” would be all he would have to do.
Sources close to the retired four-star general and American icon cautioned that Powell’s support for Obama over John McCain might stop short of a formal endorsement when he’s interviewed on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday.Given Powell’s cautious nature, he might decide to make his endorsement of Obama implied, rather than explicit. Even so, a well-informed source told the Daily News:
“After Sunday people aren’t going to have any doubt who he’s voting for.”
So why Obama and not McCain?
Well, it looks like it goes back to the Powell Doctrine against the Bush Doctrine…
Two other colleagues Powell has consulted in recent weeks told The News that while Powell admires McCain, he’s roubled that the GOP candidate has surrounded himself with hardline national security advisers.“McCain has too many neocons working for him,” said one Republican source familiar with Powell’s thinking.
I guess this brings up the question: have the neocons destroyed the Republican brand?
In any event, tune in tomorrow!
This entry was posted on Saturday, October 18th, 2008 and is filed under 2008 Election, Barack, Foreign Policy, McCain, Military. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
October 18th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
It wouldn’t really be an October surprise, especially if he doesn’t just come out and say it. But it would provide a couple of days worth of media coverage.
Above all else, I have learned to implicitly trust Plouffe and gang’s plan. When Obama was down several points a few weeks ago, do you remember them saying, “chill out”?
In the primary, they had a plan which worked through and through. I can only believe they know how to run the media cycle for the next 2-3 weeks enough to keep up a 3-6 point edge over McCain.
They know what they are doing.
October 18th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
i am really skeptical of the impact of powell beyond the day of media coverage. powell discredited himself with a lot of people after he sold a war he knew was wrong and by his continued silence after leaving the administration. Maybe i am wrong and there are tons of people who are waiting to hear his choice to determine their pick. All in all it seems a little late for an endorsement to have a major impact.
October 18th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
Gaucho,
I’m not sure I understand why his silence leads to his discredit. It seemed obvious that he disagreed with the administration, but that he wasn’t going to bash them on his way out. I think his lifetime of military service showed through in his decision to not criticize the CiC during war time. I’m not sure you can (or should) expect anything less from a former 4 star general.
As for the power that his opinion might still have on voters, many see him as someone who sits on the reasonable edge of the right. He’ll sway some votes if his endorsement is strong enough.