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Page A6
lune 27. 2007
Goodin ,he
Neighborhood
^BRIDGE Bl7ILPr ><S
Members o f Portland's Bridge Builders, local
youth who aim high with constructive tools and
African-centered rites o f passage, march down
Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard Satur­
day for the Good in the Neighborhood parade.
The annual event and ensuing Good in the Hood
weekend festival were a chance for the commu­
nity to gather and celebrate what’s good in north
and northeast Portland.
v u m p et»
P hoto by M ark W ashington /T he P ortland O bserver
Obama Insider
in Our Backyard
continued
from Front
country stronger.
What kind of perspective did you
offer?
I represent a different view; I'm not
“cut and run." In my opinion the hard
work [in Iraq) is yet to be done. No
m atter who is president, they will need
advice on how to get out of this jam . It’s
not a liberal or conservative issue - it’s
about how you are going to pull this off.
I ran the whole Air Force in combat and
I know which levers to pull, which but­
tons to push.
What weaknesses can you advise
Obama on?
I’m not sure I can help him much be­
cause he's so good already. If I had any
use, it’d be because I understand how the
system works because I've been beat up
by the system and Obama hasn’t yet.
What advice have you given ( )hama so
far?
You can't continue to vote for appro­
priations for the war. I advised him to vote
for the hardest line of getting out of Iraq
and toestablish a practical position. I think
he should vote more radically than he acts
- to set a deadl ine for getting al 1 forces out
of Iraq by a certain time. (Obama has
followed M cPeak’s advice each time
they’ve talked).
Do you really think the United States
could completely withdrawal anytime
soon?
No. But a vote on an [Iraq War] appro­
priations bill is a tactical vote, one that is
different from the real world. As I said, the
hardest work is yet to be done.
What war advice would you give if he
were elected?
I think Obama’s task is to get out as
soon as possible. Step one would be to
establish a policy position, and tell the
Iraqis w e're serious about leaving, it will
be complicated to unwind our presence,
but it will have to be practical, not ideal.
This is a complex management problem,
and I can expect Obama to say he’ll vote
for a date certain.
What kind of timeline do you see for
withdrawal?
It’s likely to be a fighting withdrawal,
and I don’t think we can get out of Iraq in
less than six months.
What are you r thoughts on the cur rent
administration's handling of the war?
photo by S arah
B lount /T he P ortland O bserver
Retired Air Force General Merrill McPeak sits at a coffee shop in Lake Oswego where he lives with his wife. Ellie.
McPeak recently became an advisor for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign.
These guys have no idea what they’re
doing. Cheney is pureevil. like Darth Vader.
And the rest of these guys are complete
duds. On an ideological level they want to
establish an imperial presence in Iraq; we
spent billions and built a dozen bases
because we expect to be there for the next
couple hundred years, but they have no
notion of how the world works.
W hodoyou admire within the Ohama
campaign?
Susan Rice. She is brilliant. (Rice is a
foreign policy expert who worked for the
Clinton Administration and is a cousin of
Condoleezza Rice.) Also, Tony Lake,
Clinton’s national security advisor.
What do you envision your future role
in the campaign to he?
I envision Obama will be elected presi­
dent and I'll goon living in Lake Oswego,
which is exactly what I want to do.
ESCAPE
Just west of Portland 1,700 acres of hilly forestland between HWY 26 and Vernonia is
now protected as a state park. Constructed with funds from the Oregon Lottery, "S tu b "
Stewart State Park is Oregon's first new full service park in more than 30 years. It's less
than 30 miles from Portland and it opens July 2007.
With 80 campsites, 15 miles of trails for hiking, horseback riding and mountain biking,
a cabin village, a horse camp, a hike-in camp for backpackers, interpretive exhibits, a
sheltered picnic ground and a hill-top observation tower for sightseeing and stargazing,
Stub Stewart is an ideal place to escape into nature - whether you want to get away or
just hear yourself think.
In 1998, Oregon's state parks were in trouble. There wasn't enough money to maintain
them and some were in danger of closing, which is why Oregonians voted to use Lottery
profits to support state parks. Today, Oregon is able to make investments in all of its parks
and is buying and developing new park land across the state because of the Lottery funding.
itdoesgoodthings.org
OREGON
LOTTERY
Lottery games are based on chance and should be played for entertainm ent only.
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