Of course it’s racially motivated. Either that or Colin Powell has become a Socialist too, which wouldn’t surprise me.
In the end, these endorsements mean little.
Since Powell states that he chooses to remain a Republican and the reasons he stated for his support of Obama are specious at best shows that his motivation is all the more transparent.
In the end this endorsement may help McCain because of the racial component and that it brings the "War on Terror" and Iraq back as campaign issues. Make no mistake that Powell was on board the Iraq invasion train and for making Afghanistan a NATO problem. Powell was for invading Iraq before he was against it. Many question to Obama about the obvious differences of opinion over the invasion of Iraq.