Powell's Predictable Endorsement

Gen. Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama for president, in effect ending Powell’s brief interlude as a Republican, was the least surprising and most predictable event of an unusually unpredictable election cycle. The interaction between Powell and the Republican Party was never a marriage made in heaven.

Powell was enticed into becoming a Republican, even though he had no connection with or affection for the Republican Party. Unlike Eisenhower, who carried no ideology into politics, Powell is much more of a liberal in his ideology.

Powell’s debut as a Republican at the 1996 GOP convention in San Diego was not an auspicious success, particularly after the general delivered a speech that seemed suspiciously Democratic to the assembled delegates.

Powell’s friend and political adviser Kenneth Duberstein, a Washington Republican operative and lobbyist, has tried hard to facilitate Powell’s entrance into the GOP. But as astute as Duberstein is, the general and the GOP simply never trusted each other.

The general resisted efforts to enlist him as a party fund-raiser, and Powell was clearly not comfortable as a Republican.

The endorsement of Obama was an event waiting to happen.

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