Colin Powell backs Barack Obama to be next president
Colin Powell has publicly backed Barack Obama to become the next US president
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Sunday, 19, Oct 2008 07:34
Former US secretary of state Colin Powell has publicly backed Democratic candidate Barack Obama to become the country's next president.
Mr Powell told NBC's Meet The Press that both Mr Obama and his Republican rival John McCain were qualified to become the next president but the Democrat candidate had the "ability to inspire".
He said that "all Americans. not just African-Americans" would be proud if the Illanois senator won next month's election, claiming it would "electrify the world".
"I think he [Mr Obama] would be a transformational president," Mr Powell said. "For that reason, I will be voting for Senator Barack Obama."
The former secretary of state said he was concerned about Mr McCain's ability to run the country's economy during the current financial crisis and said the Republican party had "moved more to the right that I would like to see it".
"In the case of Mr McCain, I found that he was a little unsure as how to deal with the economic problems that we're having," he said.
"Almost every day there was a different approach to the problem and that concerned me.
"You got the sense that he didn't have a complete grasp of the economic problems that we had."
He also said that he was "concerned" about Mr McCain's decision to choose Sarah Palin as his running mate.
"She's a very distinguished woman, and she's to be admired," Mr Powell declared.
"At the same time, now that we have had a chance to watch her for some seven weeks, I don't believe she is ready to be president of the US, which is the job of the vice-president."
Mr Powell served as secretary of state under Republican president George Bush from 2001 to 2005.
Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Mr McCain said he respects Mr Powell but admitted his announcement didn't come as a surprise.
He said he was "pleased to have the endorsement of four former secretaries of state - secretaries [Henry] Kissinger, [James] Baker, [Lawrence] Eagleburger, and [Alexander] Haig - and I'm proud to have the endorsement of well over 200 retired Army generals and admirals".
Mr Obama and Mr McCain are both engaged in last minute campaigning ahead of the presidential election on November 4th.