Colin Powell Defends Obama Legacy: ‘He Took Us Out… Of The Economy Collapsing’

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell visited Today this morning to discuss his new book, how he sees the future of Iraq and Afghanistan, and how he seems the Obama presidency four years after having endorsed it. Powell had favorable words for Matt Lauer on the President. While he did not think the President had been “completely” the transformational figure he predicted, he credited President Obama with warding of further economic demise.

Lauer reminded Powell that he had endorsed the President as a “transformational figure that represents generational change.” Asked whether he thought President Obama was still that figure, Powell said yes, “not completely,” but enough. “He took us out– not completely out– took us out of the biggest problem at the time [of his election], the economy collapsing.” Lauer noted that this sounded like a more or less clear endorsement of the President. “Oh, he knows better,” Powell replied. “He knows I keep my powder dry, as we say in the military.” The hesitation, Powell explained, was merely a desire “not to throw my weight around somebody,” a privilege he now has as a private citizen. “I’m still listening to what Republicans are saying they’re going to do– I think I owe that to the Republicans,” he noted, adding that he thought “too often in this country we simply stick to, whatever you said last year,” an impulse that didn’t always serve well.

The two also talked about the Iraq War, the pretenses for which Powell described as the same intelligence everyone had in the White House, with no private information on President Bush or Vice President Cheney’s part tipping the scale.

The segment via NBC below:

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