Does that sound inclusive? Seriously, because I find him one of the most divisive figures that I've witnessed in politics today.

POWELL: Well, that's a term that's being used rather freely. I don't think it's that divisive of an issue. I think we have right now, we have dueling points of view strongly held by both sides. And the president is starting to go to the mattresses, just as the Republicans are going to go to the mattresses to try to win the election.

What could have been more divisive than when President Obama was inaugurated for a number of Republicans, friends of mine and a number of commentators to say, we are going to destroy him. We are going to destroy him.

HANNITY: Who said that?

POWELL: A lot of people saying, I can get you a list, but I don't want to just take it off --

HANNITY: I was one of the harshest critics. I wasn't out to destroy him.

POWELL: I don't ever remember you saying it.

HANNITY: Well, I was critical about Bill Ayers and Reverend Wright.

POWELL: I don't know Bill Ayers from the man in the moon. Bill Ayers and Reverend Wright are just passing things through his life.

HANNITY: Twenty years in his church? Twenty years?

POWELL: Well, so?

HANNITY: Unrepentant terrorist giving speeches, starting your political career in his house, that didn't impress you at all?

POWELL: At the time it was a guy who is living in Chicago and happened to have a friend by the name of Bill Ayers. But I don't see Bill Ayers as having that kind of long-standing terrorist influence on the President. I mean, it is ancient history now. Why are we fooling with this?

HANNITY: Well, I don't think it's the issue. I think the economy and the president's record -- I couldn't see you and Reverend Wright's church for 20 years.

POWELL: I wasn't in Reverend Wright -- I didn't know anything about Reverend Wright or his church.

HANNITY: I know but that's my point.

POWELL: This thing explodes and it becomes a big -- everybody tries to make it the defining issue of the 2008 campaign. And guess what, the American people heard it, they heard all the attacks, they heard all the things that were said about the Reverend Wright issue, then-Senator Obama gave a speech on it and the American people took it in stride and they elected him president.

HANNITY: Yes, they didn't listen to me, that's the power and influence I have.

(CROSSTALK)

POWELL: Well, that's what makes this country great.

HANNITY: Yes.

POWELL: You know, Sean, we have a wonderful country. There has always been divisiveness within our political system because the Founding Fathers designed it that way.

HANNITY: We don't have duels anymore, not that I've seen lately.

POWELL: Not lately. It may come back, we may need to bring it back.

HANNITY: God forbid.

POWELL: But the fact is that, as I say to all of my audiences, is look, this isn't Tiddledy Winks. Politics is tough stuff. You should see what our Founding Fathers used to say to each other and in the early part of our nation. But what they were able to do, especially in Philadelphia in 1787, four months, they argued about what a House should be, what a Senate should be, the power of the president, the Congress, the Supreme Court. And they had to deal with slavery. And they compromised on slavery because they couldn't solve it.

HANNITY: Right.

POWELL: And they said, we are here to create a nation under a Constitution and they did. And so, I saw that kind.

HANNITY: That's amazing.

POWELL: It's amazing. But they did it. It took us 200 years to resolve slavery. But they knew what they were there for, to create a nation. Sometimes as I watch politics today, it seems like it's all about winning, not compromising. Let's not even think about it. We just had a gentleman who beat Mr. Lugar in Indiana and his first statement is, I am not going to compromise anything. How's is the country going to work if nobody would attempt to come to Washington and compromise?

HANNITY: You say something that is so amazing about our founders and framers that are often beaten up by people even today.

POWELL: Yes.

HANNITY: But what I always thought was amazing about them is that they put in place a system to right wrongs, correct injustices and history has, I think, proven them right. I think you are agreeing with me.

POWELL: I fully agree with you. It's a wonderful system. And it takes time sometimes. You have to ultimately to get a consensus from the people. The only way you get a consensus to move forward is for there to be compromise, so you can build a consensus.

HANNITY: Yes.

POWELL: We are not doing enough of that now. We're not doing enough -- OK, look, let's have a drink, let's play some poker together.

HANNITY: Tip O'Neill and Reagan.

POWELL: You got it!

HANNITY: What happened to that, Sean?

POWELL: It is not there anymore.