"'I'm concerned at the number of programs that are being presented, the bills associated with these programs and the additional government that will be needed to execute them,' Mr. Powell said in an excerpt of an interview with CNN's John King, released by the network Friday morning.

Mr. Powell, a retired U.S. army general who rose to political prominence after a long and accomplished military career, said that health care reform and many of Mr. Obama's other initiatives are 'important' to Americans.

But, he said, 'one of the cautions that has to be given to the president -- and I've talked to some of his people about this -- is that you can't have so many things on the table that you can't absorb it all.'"

Even in caution, Powell gets it wrong.