Five ex-secretaries of state urge talks with Iran

[DogPoundPup]

Source: chron.com

WASHINGTON — Five former secretaries of state, gathering to give their best advice to the next president, agreed Monday that the United States should talk to Iran.

The wide-ranging, 90-minute session in a packed auditorium at The George Washington University, produced exceptional unity among Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, Warren Christopher, Henry A. Kissinger and James A. Baker III. But they didn't agree on who should move into the Oval Office next January.

Albright, a Democrat, surprised no one by endorsing Barack Obama. "It would be sending a message of diversity" to the world, she said, drawing cheers from an audience of dozens of diplomats and hundreds of students.

Baker, a Republican, said he wished to send a "powerful message" to America as well as abroad. After a dramatic pause, he evoked applause and some laughter by saying tersely, "But I am for John McCain."

Powell, the first African American secretary of state, said he had not decided yet. "I am an American first," Powell said.

He said he had told Obama, "I am not going to vote for you just because you are black." The critical issue, he said, "is who is going to keep us safe."

Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/6003429.html

[gateley]

1. Obama and Biden have been urging diplomacy with Iran all along.

Bush's definition of diplomacy is do what we say or we won't talk. :eyes:

[WheelWalker]

6. "My way, or the Highway."

[Faygo Kid]

2. Powell has no credibility, anyway, and lacks the guts to endorse Obama.

He played butt boy to Bush/Cheney, knows it, and yet is still a "good soldier" for them, even though he was played like a cheap fiddle.

You would think he would get angry sometime. It's like he has Stockholm Syndrome.

[Catch22Dem]

3. Perfect description (n/t)

[krkaufman]

4. If Powell doesn't already see McCain and his foreign policy as a continuation of Bush's failed ...

... policies, then Powell remains as bankrupt as he was in 2003.

[Wilms]

5. Ummm, recommend ??? n/t