Powell Should Follow Specter Out the Door: If Anyone Has a Right to, He Sure Does

I do think that Colin Powell should follow Arlen Specter out the door and follow his example, by joining the Democratic Party.

But it's not for the reasons that Limbaugh has stated, which are that he endorsed Obama solely based on race.

I have no comment on that point.

No, Powell should join the Democrats because the Bush Administration royally screwed him during the build-up to the Iraq War, using Powell to press the case for military action against Iraq and sending him before the U.N. Security Council with false information. CIA did Colin Powell no favors and set him up, when they knew they didn't have the evidence that Powell was pressing for to show that Iraq possessed WMDs.

If anyone has a right to be p.o.'ed by what was done to him, it's Powell. I wouldn't blame him if he never appeared at a GOP event again. Who wouldn't be angry by being set up like Powell was by his own party and his own President?

Powell will always be remembered as the Secretary of State who sat before the Security Council and told them that Iraq had WMDs and offered proof of mobile weapons labs, which U.S. and U.K. intelligence services had already discounted but didn't tell Powell about.

On the political side, he belongs to the Democratic wing of the Republican Party. I think he's burned too many bridges to simply go back and continue on as if his endorsement never happened. His pro-choice leanings are incompatible with what has been a pro-life party. He's got more in common with the Democrats than the Republicans these days; I'm surprised he didn't switch when he endorsed Obama.

I don't know if he'll ever be able to live down his actions as Secretary of State. I'm also uncertain if he'll ever return to politics, so his switching sides won't damage the Republicans any more than they already are.

Bill Clinton Doesn't Need to be Involved in Senator Sniper-Fire's Confirmation Hearings: Obama's Calling the Shots, Not Bill's Charities

There's been a story circulating around that former President Clinton may be called into Senator Hillary Clinton's confirmation hearings to testify about possible conflicts of interests with regards to her nomination as Secretary of State.

He's already agreed not to accept foreign government donations to his charities. But more than that, Hillary's not taking orders from her husband on foreign policy matters; her boss is President-elect Obama.

Former President Clinton doesn't need to testify. It's a side-show that Congress doesn't have time for, and can handle privately with the Clintons and AWAY from the hearings. This hearing is about Senator Sniper-Fire, not President Clinton.

Oops, did I say that out loud?

The Post of U.S. Secretary of State is Part of the Foreign Policy Team, Not the National Security Team

I keep hearing that the Secretary of State is the head of the President's national security team. With all due respect, no it isn't. The Secretary of State is the head of the President's foreign policy team.

The head(s) of the actual national security team are the Homeland Security Director, the National Intelligence Director, and the Secretary of Defense.

The Secretary of State is the President's chief foreign diplomat.

The National Security Council, of which the Secretary of State is a member, also includes the President, Vice President, Secretary of Defense, and the National Security Adviser as well as other departments as needed. The President is the chair of this council.

The President uses the National Security Council to get the experts in their various departments to come up with a comprehensive national security and foreign policy. Once the President decides, the Secretary of State executes the diplomacy, while the other departments execute their own part of the plan.

So it's quite confusing when the media portrays the post of Secretary of State as something other than it is.