Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama

CNN.com:

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell announced Sunday that he will be voting for Sen. Barack Obama, citing the Democrat's "ability to inspire" and the "inclusive nature of his campaign."

"I think he is a transformational figure, he is a new generation coming onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason I'll be voting for Sen. Barack Obama," Powell said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Powell said he was concerned about what he characterized as a recent negative turn of Republican candidate Sen. John McCain's campaign, such as the campaign's attempts to tie Obama to former 1960s radical Bill Ayers.

Powell, a retired U.S. general and a Republican, was once seen as a possible presidential candidate himself.

Eh, I really don't see this as a big deal. For starters anyone whose been paying attention to Powell of late knows that he's been leaning Left for years now, esp. in his criticism regarding the handling of the Iraq war. In turn, perhaps he remains bitter about taking many of the hits from the press since it was he that was front and center on the Bush administration's reasons for us needing to go into Iraq. Secondly, as a prominent black man in the political world, with a black man running for president, Powell's in a no-win situation: feeling guilty if he doesn't endorse Barack while also being a labeled a "sellout" or "Uncle Tom" or any other smear liberals use towards Black people don't toe the line and vote Democratic. Lastly, Powell's had such a relatively low profile since he resigned as Secretary of State that his endorsement just doesn't strike me as being that significant, except to liberals of course.