Republican who served under President Bush, said Friday he may not back
the GOP presidential nominee in November, telling CNN that “I am
keeping my options open at the moment.”
“I have voted for members of both parties in the course of my adult
life,” Powell, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “And as I said earlier, I will vote for the
candidate I think can do the best job for America, whether that
candidate is a Republican, a Democrat, or an Independent.”
Powell also offered praise for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who is
seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, calling him an
“exciting person on the political stage.
“He has energized a lot of people in America,” said Powell, who
briefly weighed his own run for the White House in the mid-1990s. “He
has energized a lot of people around the world. And so I think he is
worth listening to and seeing what he stands for.”
Powell, who has largely steered clear of politics since leaving the
administration in 2004, noted that the next president will need to work
to restore America’s standing in the world.
“I will ultimately vote for the person I believe brings to the
American people the kind of vision the American people want to see for
the next four years,” he said. “A vision that reaches out to the rest
of the world, that starts to restore confidence in America, that starts
to restore favorable ratings to America. Frankly, we've lost a lot in
recent years.”
Programming note: Tune in for the full interview with Colin
Powell on “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer,” airing this Sunday, 11-1
PM, ET.
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