(CNN) -- Retired Gen. Colin Powell has a choice blend of political and military experience, and many thought he'd make a great president, but Powell said Wednesday that he just didn't have it in him.

Colin Powell, left, embraces Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel at the inauguration Tuesday.

His wife, Alma, had feared that such an endeavor would change their family life. She also had concerns about Powell's safety, he said Wednesday on CNN's "American Morning."

"But I was a soldier. That wasn't my concern," he said. "I never found inside of me the internal passion that you've got to have to run for elected office."

Many GOP pundits had hoped Powell, who served as secretary of state under President George W. Bush and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Bush's father and President Clinton, would make a run at the Oval Office.

The former four-star general and Vietnam War veteran's military credentials are staunch, rivaled only by his accomplishments as a statesman.  Watch Powell explain why the White House wasn't for him »

In addition to chairing the Joint Chiefs, the lifelong Republican served as national security adviser under President Reagan and oversaw the 1989 invasion of Panama that toppled Gen. Manuel Noriega as well as Operation Desert Storm during the 1991 Gulf War. He has two Presidential Medals of Freedom to his name.

As Bush's secretary of state, he spearheaded efforts to increase U.S. foreign assistance throughout the world, and he helped develop Bush's HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment program, which is credited with being the largest such endeavor ever.

However, Powell drew heavy criticism over his remarks before the United Nations that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. Powell made the assertion while attempting to convince the world body that the U.S. should go to war with Iraq.

Powell abruptly retired from Bush's Cabinet in 2005, but he did not cite his time a secretary of state Wednesday when explaining why he never sought the presidency.

"I never woke up a single morning to go think about this, to talk to people about it and find in my heart and soul the passion that a Barack Obama or a John McCain or a George Bush or a Bill Clinton had," he said. "It just wasn't me, and you've got to be true to yourself, and I've tried to be true to myself."

The stance is not new for Powell, who held a news conference in November 1995 to announce that he would not run for president.

"To offer myself as a candidate for president requires a commitment and a passion to run the race and to succeed in the quest," he said then, "a passion and commitment that, despite my every effort, I do not yet have for political life, because such a life requires a calling that I do not yet hear."

No stranger to advising presidents, Powell told CNN that Obama has a great deal of work ahead. Not only does he have to deal with the crisis du jour -- like righting the economy at home -- he needs to keep his eyes on crises abroad while never foregoing long-range planning.  Watch what Powell says Obama must do »

"You can never avoid it," he said. "Once you're the president, every crisis comes to your desk, and you have to deal with it. ... But that doesn't mean that you can't stand back and look farther out."

Repairing America's broken image and poverty alleviation -- both at home and abroad -- will pose major challenges, he said, and both have wide-ranging implications.

Poverty incubates terror, and it is incumbent upon the U.S. to stamp out the hunger, unemployment and illiteracy that breed suicide bombers and other insurgents, Powell said. He called poverty alleviation "one of the most important challenges facing the world."

"For those of us who are wealthy, we should reach out not only to our own citizens who need help, but the rest of the world,"
What is the most important challenge? What did Powell say? Who did most of the GOP feel could be president? Passion for what?
poverty alleviation Wednesday that he just didn't have it in him. Gen. Colin Powell to run the race and to succeed in the quest,"
question: What is the most important challenge?, answer: poverty alleviation | question: What did Powell say?, answer: Wednesday that he just didn't have it in him. | question: Who did most of the GOP feel could be president?, answer: Gen. Colin Powell | question: Passion for what?, answer: to run the race and to succeed in the quest,"