Clinton Says She'd Tap Colin Powell for Foreign Policy Expertise If Elected

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that if elected U.S. president she would call on former Secretary of State Colin Powell as part of a bipartisan diplomatic delegation to be sent abroad to restore America's image.

Noting Powell's foreign policy expertise, Clinton publicly offered fresh details in her plan — often described in general terms — that she says she would institute before her would-be inauguration.

Clinton has previously mentioned Powell and George H.W. Bush as potential members of that delegation during interviews, but rarely names names when speaking publicly.

But Tuesday she specifically told a group of black ministers who were endorsing her in Spartanburg, S.C., that to restore the country's reputation, she would tap the man who under President Bush led the foreign policy argument to invade Iraq in pursuit of weapons of mass destruction.

"I won't even wait until I'm inaugurated, but as soon as I'm elected I'm going to be asking distinguished Americans of both parties — people like Colin Powell, for example and others — who can represent our country well, including someone I know very well, " she said smiling while making reference to her husband and former President Bill Clinton. "Because I want to send a message heard across the world. The era of cowboy diplomacy is over."

The references to Powell and her husband were brief, but met with applause from the audience. Clinton has said before that if elected, she would appoint her husband as a roving envoy.

Last month, Clinton called Powell "a very respected messenger" and told a television interviewer that she has "a great deal of admiration for General Powell. And as I look at the problems we face in the world, I think we’re going to need high-level, experienced people like him and others immediately to travel around the world to reassure countries that the aberration of this radical policy that has been followed by the president is over."

Clinton's plan to send emissaries overseas before she's even inaugurated has been labeled as presumptuous by GOP frontrunner Rudy Giuliani.

Giuliani said last month that such a proposal is "very, very premature," since Clinton is not even the nominee of the Democratic Party. He also said that until the next president is sworn in, President Bush is the only one who should be conducting the country's foreign policy.

FOX News' Aaron Bruns contributed to this report.