Powell's decision to cross party lines, former associates said, is far more complicated than black and white.
"It was a painful thing for him to do, for sure," Larry Wilkerson, a retired Army colonel who was Powell's chief of staff at the State Department, said in an interview Sunday. "One of the principal parts of his character is defined by loyalty."
The Republican Party and Republican presidents "have done a lot for his career," Wilkerson said. Powell was President Reagan's national security advisor, then served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President George H.W. Bush before he became President George W. Bush's first secretary of State.
Wilkerson said that Powell ultimately was distressed over what he saw as growing divisiveness in the country and a return to "the vitriol and bigotry and prejudice" of the 1960s.
Adm. Henry Ulrich, the former commander of U.S. naval forces in Europe, said he thought Powell's decision was not easy.
"Colin Powell is a very, very, very bright, thoughtful person, and I can assure you that he did not enter into this endorsement without giving it lots and lots of thought and give it all the due process it deserved," Ulrich said. "I think it is remarkable that he has endorsed a Democrat, and so I am sure he didn't do it lightly.
"Sen. Obama is quite lucky and fortunate," he added. "It should have made his Sunday."
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rick.schmitt@latimes.com
