Former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell broke with the Republican Party once again to endorse President Obama's re-election. The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff made the announcement on CBS This Morning.
"I voted for him in 2008 and I plan to stick with him in 2012 and I'll be voting for he and for Vice President Joe Biden next month," said the general, who described Obama as a "transformational figure" in 2008. Watch the clip AFTER THE JUMP ...
Powell described his rationale:
"When he took over, the country was in very very difficult straits. We were in the one of the worst recessions we had seen in recent times, close to a depression. The fiscal system was collapsing. Wall Street was in chaos, we had 800,000 jobs lost in that first month of the Obama administration and unemployment peaked a few months later at 10 percent. So we were in real trouble. The auto industry was collapsing, the housing was start[ing] to collapse and we were in very difficult straits. And I saw over the next several years, stabilization come back in the financial community, housing is now starting to pick up after four years, it's starting to pick up. Consumer confidence is rising."
Watch the clip AFTER THE JUMP ...
The move comes only days after Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney sparred over foreign policy in the third and final presidential debate ahead of the November 6 election.
Powell slammed Romney's foreign policy as inconsistent. "I'm not quite sure which Governor Romney we'd be getting with respect to foreign policy," Powell said, calling Romney's foreign policy "a moving target."
Powell also criticized Romney's economic policies as "more of the same" and questioned his ability to manage the nation's fiscal problems.
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