MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Former Secretary of State Colin Powell says the night Barack Obama won the presidential election is one he'll never forget.
At a breakfast in Minneapolis honoring Martin Luther King Jr., Powell recalled watching the results on television during a business trip to Hong Kong. He says he whispered to an empty room, "My God, we did it." He calls Obama's election, "a tribute" to the U.S. and its political system, as well as to King.
Powell says if King were alive, he would be at Tuesday's inauguration, beaming with pride as Obama takes the oath of office.
But he says that after congratulating Obama, King would tell him "I need to see you tomorrow about a few things." He says King "would never be satisfied," and Americans "must all come together" to support a president in whom they have placed "such hope and such expectation."
Powell himself made history, serving as the nation's first black secretary of state.
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