Powell gives Obama foreign policy advice

[journalist3072]

Source: AP via Yahoo News

WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) has sought out former Secretary of State Colin Powell for advice on foreign policy matters.

While Powell served in the administrations of two Republican presidents, he said Sunday it was too early in the 2008 race to say whether he would back the GOP nominee.

"I'm going to support the best person that I can find who will lead this country for the eight years beginning in January of 2009," Powell said.

-snip-

Powell said he has met twice with Obama, the Illinois senator. "I've been around this town a long time and I know everybody who is running for office. And I make myself available to talk about foreign policy matters and military matters with whoever wishes to chat with me," Powell said.






Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070610/ap_on_el_pr/on_the2008_trail;_ylt=AsqoT0Z53xySLY5g02ivojSs0NUE

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And this is precisely the reason why I am not aboard this Barack Obama train so many people seem to be blindly getting on.

Why would Obama seek out the very man who embarrassed us before the United Nations by presenting BLATANTLY FALSE intelligence?

[notadmblnd]

1. the more I learn about Obama, the less I like him too.

he's too close to the Clintons and the Clintons are too close to the little monkey and family.

[TheFarseer]

8. I agree 100% n/t

[EFerrari]

18. Yep. n/t

[Totally Committed]

2. Oh, great....

"Why would Obama seek out the very man who embarrassed us before the United Nations by presenting BLATANTLY FALSE intelligence?"

My thought, exactly, as I read this. WTF?????????

TC

[Auntie Bush]

3. WTF too! Why doesn't he seek out military advice from people like Clark?

Peace makers...not militants! Colon was too gung ho to go after Saddam, failed as SOS and let the American people down. He didn't seem to have made the right decision regarding the war...so why ask him a single question? That in it's self shows poor decision making.

[treestar]

16. True, without experience, he has to show he would get the best

advisors.

[Lobster Martini]

4. One hopes-hopes-he had something more substantial to say to Obama than to Russert

Fifteen word summary of Powell's MTP interview: "Everything was wrong but no one was to blame. It was just a big misunderstanding."

Four word addendum (emphasis on the last syllable-dumb): "Nothing was my fault."

I did like the film clip of Powell speaking while George Tenet, over Powell's right shoulder, is obviously asleep.

[Bodhi BloodWave]

5. Hmmm,

while i agree that Powell is not the best man to go, one cannot deny that he does know a lot.

I'm going to assume that he simply does like me when researching an issue: he visits a lot of people, hears a lot of viewpoints then reads a number more before he makes a final choice.

If its my above viewpoint then talking to Powell is a wise choice as he very likely has some useful information to give others, if Powell is the only one spoken to its a bad one. As i see it talking to everybody is usually a good plan as long as the decision is made by what HE thinks is best, not what others have told him

To end it with a Buddha quote: Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.

The above quote actually fits Obama to a fair degree as i see him

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

9. Yes, he can learn all about approving massacres such as Mi Lai

and then keeping his role in them hidden for years. Very wise indeed.



Definitely my kind of guy. :sarcasm:

[EFerrari]

19. What massacre?

:sarcasm:

[HooptieWagon]

6. I agree with #5

Hopefully Obama is talking to several foreign policy experts, and if you're gonna listen to the "other" side - better Powell than Rice, Wolfie, or DUCK!

[Solly Mack]

7. lolololololol

lololololololol

wow

lolololololololololol

Does Obama know the Powell action figure comes with little vials of bullshit?

[rusty fender]

10. oboy, oboy, oboy

What a stupid-ass thing to do! Colin Powell? Why doesn't he hold a seance and get advice from Goering, or Stalin?

[Vinca]

11. It's a shame what has happened to Colin Powell, but it was all

his own doing. IMHO, he alone was the sole, sane person within the administration in the days before the Iraqi war and he chose to side with the neocon lunatics. If I was an Obama adviser, I'd tell him not to utter the word "Powell."

[Shipwack]

12. Let's wait a moment before breaking out the pitchforks...

While I don't favor Obama myself, let's consider the source...

Do you all realize that you are taking Powell's word for something? Not only that, but the referenced article doesn't necessarily support its headline. One sentence says that Powell has met Obama twice. Where? In private, at charity fund raiser? Then it mentions that Powell "... (makes himself) available to talk about foreign policy matters and military matters with whoever wishes to chat with me." Unless there are other parts of that transcript (of the "Meet the Press" show where he was being interviewed)that make it more clear, the two aren't necessarily related.

Even if Powell did mean that he was giving Obama advice, we should believe him because...? The man (I use the term loosely) is known to put his loyalty to the neocons over everything. I'm sure if Rove or someone else asked him to cause hate and discontent, he'd immediately jump off his porch and do so.

Or... maybe Obama is doing what we say Bush I, Bush II, Reagan, Gingrich should have done; get opinions and advice from all sides. Hopefully he's employing the rule of thumb that you listen to a neocon plan, then do exactly the opposite of what they think.

::edited to clarify where Powell remarks were coming from::

[seriousstan]

13. No, quick...throw him under the bus.

[AndreaCG]

14. Obama seems to try to appeal to non-traditional Dems

He is big on talking about his religious beliefs, not just to reach black churchgoers who usually vote Dem, but independents and even the less bigoted of the religous right who might be fed up with Bushco. I'm just a little concerned when I hear him cause I feel he's just a little too close to equating morality with religious as if non-religious people can't be moral. He doesn't say it explicitly it's just a whisper of a hint, but it's easy enough to those RRs who believe it to think he does too even if he doesn't. I don't get the same feeling from Edwards.

I suppose times have changed but I prefer Jimmy Carter's take on religion and the Presidency. He professed his faith without impugning any other person's, and admitted his own fallibility.

[BikeWriter]

15. WTF? I think we've had quite enough of Powell's advice, thank you!

[EFerrari]

17. "Beware of ice cream trucks in ditches!"

:eyes:

[Neshanic]

20. Well, reason 2,875 for not voting for him appears. Powell?

Tips on foreign policy? Like what? How to address the UN with crappola with a straight face?

This bizzare desire to be the best republican moderate posing as a democrat is nauseating.

[Benhurst]

21. I'm hoping Obama isn't really relying on Powell for advice. Nevertheless,

appearing to do so would be a blunder. If blunders such as this continue, Senator Obama is going to win the Flash in the Pan Award for 2008.

As a supporter of his in 2004, I have been somewhat disappointed in his record in the Senate, having hoped he would position himself along side or to the left of Senator Durbin.

Increasingly I wish that he had not listened to the sirens of the Corporate Press and had fore-sworn a race for the presidency only two years after winning his seat in an election which was thrown up for grabs by the Ryan scandal. Instead I wish he had devoted himself full-time to building up a strong record in the Senate. As a comparatively young man, time was on his side.

If he does prove not ready for prime time in this election, I trust it will not hurt his reelection chances in 2010. We need TWO Democrats from Illinois in the Senate.

[BigDDem]

22. Obama snuggles up to Colin Powell ?

What, was Henry Kissinger not available?