Today an ad went live on Barack Obama's website in which retired four-star Air Force General Merrill "Tony" McPeak endorses Obama for President. Gen. McPeak, who is from Grants Pass Oregon and now lives in Lake Oswego served in the Air Force for 35 years. Earlier in his military career he was a combat pilot and went on to lead the Air Force during the first war in Iraq (Operation Desert Storm). He was also a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

During the presidential election of 2000 McPeak endorsed George W. Bush and served as co-chairman of Oregon Veterans for Bush something he would later call an enormous mistake. So in the 2004 race, the retired McPeak openly campaigned for Howard Dean's nomination, and when Dean withdrew, acted as an adviser for the John Kerry campaign on military matters, though from conversations we at wiseass.org are aware of, that relationship was a rather strained one.

McPeak was also one of twenty-seven signatories to the statement of the "Committee of Diplomats & Commanders for Change" calling the Bush Administration a failure at "preserving national security" and calling for Bush not to be re-elected.

Earlier this year McPeak said he won't work for Obama as a paid adviser, and he'll join the campaign only if he meets Obama and likes him. McPeak says his mistake in 2000 was backing Bush before he met him.

His background does carry weight within military and vet circles since he understands the importance of choosing a Commander in Chief who has the judgment to make the right choices for America. It will be interesting to see how this will impact not just Obama's standing specifically, but further countering the Fright-Wing™ pushed meme that progressive Democrats are not responsible hands in which to put control the military.

This would also seem to work at chipping away the often repeated "concern" about Obama being "too green" for the desk in the Oval Office. While we at wiseass.org have not yet picked a horse in the Presidential race, this endorsement does help keep Obama as a viable candidate. A candidate whose early opposition to the invasion of Iraq, which McPeak cites as a factor in why he is endorsing Obama, does count very heavily in the plus column for earning our support.

Update: October 6th 8:49 pm

Thanks goes out to Charlie Burr over at BlueOregon for the crosslink.