On the campaign trail with Wesley Clark

[T_i_B]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1129416,00.html

If America's multitude of political image-makers were locked in a room and told they had to draft a profile of the perfect presidential candidate, they would come up with someone like this. It would be a man, rooted in America's heartland but with a touch of the immigrant in his bloodline. He would be a war hero, preferably wounded in action, but a thinking man of compassion too. He would have come from a humble home, but have bettered himself through sheer hard work. He would be white, but comfortable with, and liked, by blacks. He would have sex appeal without an embarrassing sexual appetite.

It sounds like an ambitious shopping list, but it is arguably a fair description of General Wesley Clark, the decorated Vietnam veteran and retired Nato commander who led the war in Kosovo and is now running for president.

The tale is told in a short film, American Son, which serves as a warm-up act at the general's campaign events. For the older members of the audience, it has a familiar misty-eyed feel. It was made by the same team that marketed another Arkansan, Bill Clinton, as "The Man from Hope". Several former Clinton aides are among those now shepherding the general around New Hampshire. American Son mixes home movie clips of Clark's childhood in Arkansas with sepia portraits of his father's Russian Jewish family. It recounts how the driven young man came top in all his classes at West Point, and went to Oxford as a Rhodes scholar. It tells the story of how he was wounded as a young captain in Vietnam but kept fighting while his wife, Gert, waited frantically at home with their new-born son. It flashes forward to his days as a general, at ease with the likes of Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac, negotiating peace in Bosnia and leading Nato's first war, in Kosovo.

When the lights come up, the crowd usually rises to its feet with a standing ovation. It is almost sold on Clark before he enters the room. In a few minutes, they have borne witness to an idealised American life, a Forest Gump with competence and charisma, and in a uniform.

[T_i_B]

1. Kick

:kick:

[Frederic Bastiat]

2. Props to the Guardian

Nice article.

[in_cog_ni_to]

3. Very nice article.

James Rubin, a state department aide in the Clinton administration, was with Clark during the exchange with General Jackson, and argues that the incident has been blown out of proportion. "Clark was passing on direct orders from the White House, and he accepted Mike Jackson's concerns. I've talked to Mike Jackson about it, and I think he engaged in a little bit of hyperbole there," Rubin says.

General Jackson is the British officer who made the comment about WWIII. He has since stated he "exaggerated."



Meanwhile Clark's former deputy in the US European command, Admiral Steve Abbot, dismisses the whispering of the Pentagon brass as sheer envy. "He moved quickly through the ranks, and I suspect there were people who would rather have had the jobs he was given," Admiral Abbot, now retired, says.

Unlike his supporters, Clark's enemies among his former military comrades have stayed anonymous, with a single notable exception. Soon after Clark declared his presidential bid, Shelton told a small audience at a speaking engagement that he would not vote for him and had doubts over his "integrity and character". Since then, Shelton has refused to explain, but the words have burned away at the hastily built platform Clark has attempted to erect. Politicians are expected to make enemies of their colleagues. In the case of generals running for president, it is more disquieting.


Nice article. Thank you Guardian! It's nice to know others see what WE see in Wes Clark. He's the WHOLE package!

Go, Wes!

[democratreformed]

4. Yes, good article n/t

[Jerseycoa]

5. Heh heh

"Forest Gump with competence and charisma, and in a uniform."