POWELL ENDORSES OBAMA FOR RE-ELECTION

A former Republican Secretary of State and retired four-star General, Colin Powell, last Thursday said he had decided to endorse President Barack Obama's bid for re-election. He also expressed his concern that the Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, was 'a moving target' on foreign policy.

In an interview with 'CBS This Morning,' a morning television show, Powell said he was 'more comfortable' with the president's views on immigration, education and foreign policy.

He said, 'I do not want to see the new 'Obamacare' plan thrown off the table. It has issues - you have to fix some things in that plan - but what I see is that 30 million fellow citizens will now be covered.'

The New York Times reports that the endorsement remained an open question as to whether it would carry as much weight as it did four years ago, when he threw his support behind Obama in the final weeks of his campaign with Senator John McCain.

Powell added that the nation's unemployment rate was still too high, saying, 'I think, generally, we've come out of the dive and we're starting to gain altitude.'

While he lauded the president on his handling of security, he added, 'I also saw the president get us out of one war, start to get us out of a second war and did not get us into any new wars. I think the actions he's taken with respect to protecting us from terrorism have been very, very solid. And so I think we ought to keep on the track that we are on.'

On Afghanistan and other foreign policy concerns, Powell said he did not believe Romney 'has thought through these issues as thoroughly as he should have. There are some very, very strong neo-conservative views that are presented by the governor that I have some trouble with.'

Powell, who said he still considered himself a Republican 'of a more moderate mould,' said, 'That's something of a dying breed, I'm sorry to say.'