Official Powell endorses Obama,the final nail in the coffin for McCain

The worst kept secret of the US presidential race is out over the weekend.

Colin Powell has officially endorsed Barcak Obama for the Presidency.It probably rounds off a bad few days for John McCain.

Powell described Obama as

“more diverse and inclusive way across our society” and offering a “calm, patient, intellectual, steady approach” to the nation’s problems.

And of his good friend McCain

“As gifted as he is, he is essentially going to execute the Republican agenda, the orthodoxy of the Republican agenda, with a new face and a maverick approach to it, and he’d be quite good at it,” “But I think we need a generational change.”

Whether these actions are the sign of a disgruntled Republican is unclear.The New York Times thinks

Mr. Powell’s endorsement exposed a fundamental policy rift in the fractious Republican party foreign policy establishment between the so-called pragmatists, a number of whom have come to view the Iraq war or its execution as a mistake, and a competing camp, the neoconservatives, whose thinking dominated President Bush’s first term and played a pivotal role in building the case for war

It was also apparent that Powell was not happy with McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate.

Over at Time Mark Halperin believes

The decision is not only symbolic but, in terms of timing, one of great tactical importance. Powell is a brand unto himself in American politics, and clearly transcends the media's tendency to hype endorsements more than their actual importance to voters. However, the indisputable benefit that Powell brings Obama is that the former Secretary of State and general is sure to block out any chance McCain has of winning the next two or three days of news coverage, as the media swoons over the implications of the choice

But it might well be the final nail for John McCain as Mark continues

If some voters still see Obama as a nebulous, unknown figure with questionable associations and liberal tendencies that makes them wary of voting for an African-American, Powell's decision may ease their minds