WASHINGTON — Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said his own Republican Party is having “an identity problem.”
The former Joints Chief of Staff chairman who twice endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president tells NBC’s “Meet the Press” that in recent years there’s been “a significant shift to the right,” and that’s produced two losing presidential campaigns.
He said the GOP needs to “take a very hard look at itself and understand that the country has changed” demographically, and that if the party doesn’t change, “they’re going to be in trouble.” He also bemoans what he calls “a dark vein of intolerance” in some elements of the party.
He describes himself as a moderate but still a Republican.