Colin Powell On Romney: ‘I Have Concerns About His Views On Foreign Policy’

This morning when I heard that General Colin Powell had endorsed President Obama for reelection and voiced concerns about Romney views on Foreign Policy, I knew that my joining Republicans for Obama was the right thing for me to do.  I don't think there is anyone in the political scene that I admire more than General Powell.  He is honest and when he talks it is with a clear and concise voice.  I still have not come down from the ceiling that he was lied to on WMD's in Iraq by Cheney and Rumsfeld in order to hype the drumbeat to take out Sadaam.  General Powell apologized for giving a presentation to the UN that turned out to be flawed.  He took responsibility when it was the fault of the GW Bush foreign policy team.

General Powell's background on foreign policy is second to none and when I saw his comments following Romney's describing Russia as America's "#1 geopolitical foe," I knew that I could never support Mitt Romney.  He was right about Romney then and it only got worse at the debate when Romney morphed from Bolton type hawk to me to agreeing with President Obama.

Back in May, Powell took issue with Romney’s characterization of Russia as America’s “number one geopolitical foe.” “Come on Mitt,” Powell said, “think.” The former Secretary of State also said at the time that he was concerned with who is advising Romney on foreign policy. “I’ve seen some of the names and some of them are quite far to the right and sometimes I think they might be in a position to make judgments or recommendations to the candidate that should get a second thought,” he said.

This headline of General Powell's concerns is probably the understatement of the year as no one knows what Foreign Policy position Romney is going to take just like on any other issue.  The Foreign Policy Debate after Romney attacks on President Obama about Libya was the strangest debate I have ever witnessed.  Romney just agreed with almost everything he had disagreed with on foreign affairs a short time earlier and then was irritated that Obama called him on it.  It looked like Romney agreed so much as he couldn't remember what he had memorized. Glenn Beck answer to why Romney lost the debate was he thinks "God Guided Romney lose the debate."  You cannot make this stuff up!

General Powell explains his endorsement of President Obama and why he could not support Mitt Romney:

Colin Powell On Romney: ‘I Have Concerns About His Views On Foreign Policy’By Ben Armbruster posted from ThinkProgress Security on Oct 25, 2012 at 10:00 am 

Colin Powell 

Former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell endorsed President Obama’s re-election campaign this morning on CBS This Morning. Powell — who served as the top U.S. diplomat during the Bush administration — said the president would be better on the economy but he also had harsh criticism of Mitt Romney’s foreign policy, reiterating his concern about Romney’s neocon advisers and that the GOP presidential nominee essentially threw out all his past hawkish positions and played a moderate during this week’s foreign policy debate: 

POWELL: Not only am I uncomfortable with what Governor Romney is proposing for his economic plan, I have concerns about his views on foreign policy. The governor who was speaking on Monday night at the debate was saying things that were quite different from what he said earlier so I’m not quite sure which governor Romney we would be getting with respect to foreign policy.

O’DONNELL: What concerns do you have with governor Romney’s foreign policy? 

POWELL: Well it’s hard to fix it, I mean it’s a moving target, one day he has a certain strong view about staying in Afghanistan but then on Monday night he agrees with the withdrawal, the same thing in Iraq and almost every issue that was discussed on Monday night, governor Romney agreed with the president with some nuances but this is quite a different set of foreign policy views than he had earlier in the campaign and my concern which I’ve expressed previously in a public way is that sometimes I don’t sense he has thought through these issues as thoroughly as he should have and he gets advice from his campaign staff that he then has to adjust or modify as they go along.

ROSE: Are you concerned about the people that are advising governor Romney?

POWELL: I think there are some very very strong neoconservative views that are presented by the governor that I have some trouble with.

Watch the clip: 

(snip)

But Powell noticed the obvious during the presidential foreign policy debate this week. The Mitt Romney whose “instinct is to call to the Cheney-ites” on foreign policy issues was nowhere to be found. “Despite Romney’s momentary embrace of President Obama’s policies [during the debate],” CAP’s Matt Duss wrote this week, “we should still be concerned with the role that neoconservatives would play in a Romney administration.”

 Excerpt:  Read More at Think Progress Security

General Powell has once again stepped forward with his concerns that mirror those of us who are Republicans who cannot support Romney on many fronts with foreign policy being of primary importance. Romney doesn't seem to care about Foreign Policy as evidenced by his lack of preparation for the National Security Debate.  He went from hawk to wimp in less than a week.  Now way do you want a wimp negotiating with other countries.  Guess he figures he could just call up Bibi and asked him what to do.  Once again Romney forgot to mention veterans like he did at the GOP Convention.  Foreign Policy and no mention of veterans?  Guess they are not wealthy enough to get noticed by Mitt Romney along with belonging to the 47% when they are in a war zone because they are not taxed.

If you want Cheney, Bolton, and Rumsfeld back as advisers, then vote for Romney because that is the group that he looks to for his answers.  Do they want the Cold War back to make money?  Sure sounds like that along with Romney wanting $2T more for Defense to use to pay back his big defense contractor donors by giving them contracts for weapon systems that the DoD doesn't want.  This Country cannot afford Mitt Romney with his lack of foreign policy concern and his wanting to pay back donors for helping his campaign.

Just Say NO to Mitt Romney on November 6th!