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The Oregon general who backs Obama (Puff piece, laugher)
The Oregonian ^ | July 28, 2008 | Harry Esteve

Posted on 07/28/2008 9:45:28 AM PDT by jazusamo

Merrill "Tony" McPeak of Lake Oswego advises the Democratic hopeful on military matters

LAKE OSWEGO -- Somewhere on the scale between swagger and shuffle, gruff and glib sits Gen. Merrill "Tony" McPeak, Oregon's answer to the Great Santini.

Santini was a fictional Marine pilot whose intense assessments of right and wrong, duty and cowardice got him crosswise with, well, almost everyone he encountered. But he was one heck of a pilot.

McPeak? He's Air Force, for starters, keeps his cool a little more and gets along better with others. But he exhibits the same curt impatience for ineptitude, be it moral or political. And, according to those who've seen him in action, he's also one heck of a pilot.

Which all helps explain how the Grants Pass High School grad and one-time President Bush-backer finds himself among Sen. Barack Obama's inner circle of advisers. As one of a dozen national campaign co-chairmen, McPeak has schooled Obama on foreign policy and military issues, introduced him at more than a dozen campaign rallies and stood in frequently as a campaign surrogate with news media.

"He's someone who understands what a commander in chief will have to deal with," says Nayyera Haq, spokeswoman for the Obama campaign. "He's a Republican who crossed party lines. He was an obvious choice."

McPeak, who admits his own flaws as readily as he condemns them in others, downplays his impact on the presidential race between Obama, an Illinois Democrat, and Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican.

But in a contest that could turn on issues of national security and the war in Iraq, McPeak, the former chief of the U.S. Air Force, has given Obama, who never served in uniform, valuable credibility on military and warfare issues.

Obama's fitness to be commander in chief, McPeak says, was an issue when he first entered the race and will continue to be a concern with voters right up to when they cast their ballots. It's not, however, an issue with McPeak.

"He has gut-fighting sidewalk smarts that have allowed him to prevail when people said he couldn't," McPeak says over a cup of coffee at Blue Joe, his favorite Lake Oswego cafe. "And he did it in a way that they didn't even know their throats were cut until they tried to smile."

No wonder the two hit it off.

It's the summer of 1954, a hot day in Grants Pass. Kids are diving off a log anchored in the middle of the bitingly cold Rogue River. Tony McPeak, on break from San Diego State College, is lifeguarding to earn the spending money he'll need when he goes back to school.

Bill Hamilton, a Grants Pass pharmacist who went to high school with McPeak and lifeguarded with him, recalls what happened next. "A kid comes up and says, 'Hey, there's somebody who's gone down.' "

McPeak, a tall, skinny guy who excelled on his school debate team, bolts into the river, dives to the bottom and heads downstream of the log. Somehow, he finds the boy, hauls him to the surface and up on the bank.

"He had actually stopped breathing," Hamilton says. "We pumped him. Someone called an ambulance. He made it."

McPeak, too, finds a way to prevail. He grew up poor, but got a scholarship that paid his tuition. He joined the Reserve Officer Training Corps in college because it offered $1 a day. Between classes, he pumped gas, washed dishes and "hashed" at a campus fraternity

The military wasn't exactly a calling, but the idea of flying intrigued him, so he joined the Air Force. Lightning reflexes, such as the ones that saved the boy's life that day on the Rogue, put him in the elite ranks of fliers.

During the Vietnam War, he became part of a secret flying squadron called "Misty" that served as forward observers along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, spotting targets and calling in airstrikes.

"You had to be rather fearless," says John Hammar of Montgomery, Ala., who served in Misty around the same time as McPeak. "Usually you were hunting trucks and convoys. Sometimes you'd take ground fire. Sometimes you get shot down."

McPeak flew 269 combat missions in Vietnam. Many vets came home shattered. Not McPeak. He moved up, becoming a four-star general who served four years on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"I spent 37 years either fighting somebody or getting ready to, and loved every minute -- including Vietnam," McPeak says. "But I was a professional. This was my job."

Yes, he thought U.S. policy on Vietnam was misguided, just as he thinks it now is in Iraq.

But, he says, "you don't want fighter pilots who spend all their time in introspection."

It's midwinter in Iowa. The roads glisten with ice. McPeak relaxes in the cushy seat of a charter bus. The only other riders are Obama and a couple of top campaign staff.

"I got to know him in the context of cold pizza and Diet Cokes," McPeak says. "That was a highlight for me because it was so personal. We're not talking national security. We're watching NCAA basketball on satellite TV. We're betting on the games."

Not so long ago, McPeak wagered on Republicans to run the country. He was Oregon co-chairman of "Veterans for Bush" during the 2000 campaign. He was a staunch conservative and had advised the elder President Bush as a member of the Joint Chiefs.

Former Rep. Denny Smith, R-Ore., also a fighter pilot, was the other co-chairman. He says McPeak was deeply interested in Republican politics, even attending a precinct meeting in Clackamas County.

Then, Smith says, "something happened that he was very unhappy about."

Smith says he doesn't know what triggered McPeak's decision to leave the party. McPeak says he was turned off by Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney's go-it-alone policies, which he says helped alienate the United States from the rest of the world. But the clincher, he says, was the invasion of Iraq -- a decision he opposed from the outset.

"I didn't leave" the Republican Party, he says. "I was tossed out. I was tossed out by foolishness in Washington."

He registered as an independent and started helping Democrats. He first signed on with Howard Dean's presidential bid. Then, after Dean self-destructed, he joined Sen. John Kerry's campaign.

McPeak, now a registered Democrat, says he regrets endorsing Bush without doing his homework. "If I had met him I would have understood immediately the guy was kind of shallow."

Meeting Obama for the first time, McPeak says, was electric.

"I sound like a case of puppy love," McPeak says. "I'm a 72-year-old guy with scar tissue on top of my other scar tissue. I'm not that easy to impress." But, he says, "this guy has just got 20,000 volts running through him."

Three months after Obama scored big in the Iowa caucuses, his campaign bus rolls into Oregon and down the Willamette Valley to Salem. McPeak's on it. During a break, a reporter asks him about a statement by former President Clinton that a campaign between his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, and McCain would involve "two people who loved this country."

"It sounds more like Joe McCarthy," McPeak says, comparing Clinton to the communist-hunting senator of the 1950s.

The comments prompt immediate scorn from the Clinton camp. McPeak calls Obama and offers to resign. Obama declines, but dispatches aides for a gentle chat, suggesting that the brusque McPeak choose his words more carefully.

Back at the Blue Joe coffeehouse, McPeak assesses his shortcomings. "I'm blunt, and bluntness is not the name of the game in politics," he says. "It's careful calibration, and I'm not very good at it."

He also admits to a reckless streak. About a year and a half ago, he was stopped and cited for driving under the influence of intoxicants. He pleaded guilty and was ordered to a diversion program.

"It was a bad mistake, very stupid," he says. "I had to go to rehab. I haven't had anything to drink since."

At a rocky outcropping on the Willamette River, McPeak, still as tall and lanky as his Rogue River days, tosses a rubber float into the water and watches as his yellow lab, Sophie, leaps in to fetch it. The river's a short walk from McPeak's Lake Oswego condo. It's clear he relishes the time with his dog.

With the primary over, McPeak has cut back on his work with the Obama campaign, spending more time on his own pursuits. He's a member of nearly a dozen corporate boards and travels frequently to attend meetings. He has started a biotech company that's working on a product he's not ready to discuss publicly.

Earlier in the week, he says he saw a diminishing role for himself in the campaign, but Haq, the Obama spokeswoman, disagrees, calling him "still a valuable member of the team."

As Sophie drops the rubber float at his feet, McPeak acknowledges he may be called on to attend the Democratic National Convention next month.

"You know, I don't go around trying" to get invited to campaign events, he says with typical candor. "When they want me, they call. They usually give me about five minutes notice."


TOPICS: Extended News; Politics/Elections; US: Oregon
KEYWORDS: 2008; foreignpolicy; mcpeak; obama; propagandawingofdnc
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To: Kitanis
“McPeak is an embarrassment to the Air Force.”

It was more than the uniforms.. That man re-organized units, Screwed up policies and increased mandated draw-down goals so much that I personally saw people who would and should have stayed in bail out of the AF in droves..

I believe that he was the start of the procedual problems that plague the USAF today..

He was the most unpopular Chief of Staff in my 22 years on active duty. I also blame him for a lot of the problems - and his bus driver uniform was ugly. I refused to wear one even though it cost me points when I went before the board.

21 posted on 07/28/2008 10:22:23 AM PDT by mbynack (Retired USAF SMSgt)
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To: jazusamo

What kind of a veteran career military man would support John Kerry?


22 posted on 07/28/2008 10:32:25 AM PDT by marron
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To: jazusamo

Obama couldn’t have chosen a less respected or more unaccomplished General than McPeak if he had TRIED to do so......excluding Weasel Clark.


23 posted on 07/28/2008 10:34:04 AM PDT by river rat (Semper Fi - You may turn the other cheek, but I prefer to look into my enemy's vacant dead eyes.)
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To: jazusamo

McPeak is a dumbass that was not very well-respected.

Then he became a backer of Dean and then Kerry? Seriously poor judgement too.

Maybe he and Clark can go pose for some gay magazine. They may actually find some folks that appreciate them.


24 posted on 07/28/2008 10:36:35 AM PDT by VeniVidiVici (Barack Hussein Obama=Jimmy Carter Part Douche)
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To: river rat

Agreed...It goes to show just how little BO knows of our military.


25 posted on 07/28/2008 10:39:50 AM PDT by jazusamo (DefendOurMarines.org | DefendOurTroops.org)
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To: jazusamo

Tony McPeak was probably one of the worst generals to ever head up the USAF. He was and remains a real jackass!


26 posted on 07/28/2008 10:40:26 AM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner ("We must not forget that there is a war on and our troops are in the thick of it!"--Duncan Hunter)
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To: VeniVidiVici

Yep, for him to support Dean, Kerry and now BO and try to say he was once a conservative is complete BS, he could never have been a conservative.


27 posted on 07/28/2008 10:42:35 AM PDT by jazusamo (DefendOurMarines.org | DefendOurTroops.org)
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To: jazusamo

As a retired fighter and flight-test type from the USAF, I agree completely with a previous comment on McPeak: “McPeak is an embarrassment to the Air Force.” This guy was a clown who embarrassed even we pilots. Selection to general usually works well, but there are the six-sigmas to the left in every service. McPeak was ours. Clark is the army’s.


28 posted on 07/28/2008 10:43:50 AM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: weegee
Republican for Obama?

Conservatives for Marixsm?

That would be the "Chuck Hagel wing" of the GOP.

29 posted on 07/28/2008 10:46:18 AM PDT by Hat-Trick (Do you trust a government that cannot trust you with guns?)
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To: jazusamo

“Manly Man” McPeak was one of the most despised generals in the AF and was/is considered to be an idiot by most including other general officers. He’s a fine example of an officer who should have been sidelined at captain but he was sponsored up through the ranks and his style of political ass-kissing is what gets many of these nitwits to and past the rank of colonel. Think of an AF version of Wesley Clark with all of the same character flaws and worse.


30 posted on 07/28/2008 10:46:47 AM PDT by RJS1950 (The democrats are the "enemies foreign and domestic" cited in the federal oath)
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To: Da Coyote

Thanks for your post and your service, I couldn’t agree more.


31 posted on 07/28/2008 10:46:51 AM PDT by jazusamo (DefendOurMarines.org | DefendOurTroops.org)
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To: freekitty
If this man is impatient with ineptitude; why is he supporting Osama Obama?

He backs Obama. Has backed Dean and Kerry as well.

Thus...

For someone who is impatient with ineptitude he certainly is enthralled with incompetence.

32 posted on 07/28/2008 10:46:51 AM PDT by N. Theknow (Kennedys: Can't drive, can't fly, can't ski, can't skipper a boat; but they know what's best for us)
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To: mbynack

Don’t forget about his mandate of V-neck tee shirts (to show your chest hair).


33 posted on 07/28/2008 10:49:25 AM PDT by RJS1950 (The democrats are the "enemies foreign and domestic" cited in the federal oath)
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To: jazusamo
About a year and a half ago, he was stopped and cited for driving under the influence of intoxicants. He pleaded guilty and was ordered to a diversion program. "It was a bad mistake, very stupid," he says. "I had to go to rehab. I haven't had anything to drink since."

Now this clown needs to do something about the LSD.

34 posted on 07/28/2008 10:49:31 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: jazusamo
Meeting Obama for the first time, McPeak says, was electric. "I sound like a case of puppy love," McPeak says. "I'm a 72-year-old guy with scar tissue on top of my other scar tissue. I'm not that easy to impress." But, he says, "this guy has just got 20,000 volts running through him."

I guess that's enough electricity to send a tingle up McPeak's leg.

35 posted on 07/28/2008 10:51:18 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: Lancey Howard

LOL! That may be why he’s so screwed up.


36 posted on 07/28/2008 10:53:04 AM PDT by jazusamo (DefendOurMarines.org | DefendOurTroops.org)
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To: Da Coyote
Selection to general usually works well, but there are the six-sigmas to the left in every service. McPeak was ours. Clark is the army’s.

Fired Admiral Joe Sestak was the Navy's.

37 posted on 07/28/2008 10:54:04 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: jazusamo
I was in the Air Guard at the time he was COS. He was a disaster and everyone was glad to see him go. He was the only Air Force COS that I ever despised. Much like how soldiers despise the general who wanted to improve self esteem in the Army and gave everyone berets.
38 posted on 07/28/2008 10:59:34 AM PDT by AlaskaErik (I served and protected my country for 31 years. Democrats spent that time trying to destroy it.)
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To: mbynack

Its hard to find a single guy from this period of 1990 to 1995 that can say a single positive word about this general. Last year I ran into some retired O-6 who was on one of McPeak’s staffs in the late 1980s, and he said two or three favorable things....then I brought up the dozen negatives....and he kinda nodded...and suggested that McPeak could be handed the Mona Lisa painting...and he would have suggested or found some way to “fix or improve” the painting....and that was his undoing. As this guy suggested...there was an entire generation of field officer that came up in the early 1990s and saw this behavior...thinking it would get them promoted. The idea still works today...with no one satisfied over any program.

This retired officer then told of the amusing requirement as a Lt in SAC....he was given a simple 2-page regulation and told to take a month to update or improve it. At the end of the four weeks...he made four suggested changes...adding two lines to the regulation. The SAC officer over him looked at the four changes...tossed out two of them, and accepted the final two. That was the third change in the regulation in fifteen years. That was how he learned to only change what needs to be changed...then move onto bigger and better things...like preparing to fight wars.


39 posted on 07/28/2008 11:01:51 AM PDT by pepsionice
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Unike Wilbur “Bull” Meechum’s Lillian, McPeak’s wife Ellie could kick his a**.


40 posted on 07/28/2008 11:03:07 AM PDT by A.A. Cunningham
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