Dan

Calabrese

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July 7, 2008

Wesley Clark and His Mouth: Obama’s Stuck With Both of Them

If you’re Barack Obama, and you’re looking for a retired general to make the implausible case that you’re ready to handle America’s national security concerns, you can’t afford to be choosy.

So Obama is stuck with Wesley Clark – a man whose public utterances are usually bizarre and often hilarious. Clark stepped in it a week ago on CBS’s Face the Nation when he offered the following scintillating assessment of John McCain’s qualifications:

“Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.”

Oh, to be sitting with Obama as he was watching this, shaking his head and burying his head in his hands, as if to say, “This is general who’s supposed to convince people to vote for me?”

Yep. That’s your guy. But what is he supposed to do, jettison Clark and go get the next distinguished general to tout his commander-in-chief bona fides? Because you’re going to find that guy . . . where? Exactly. So it’s Wesley or bust.

Or it could be both. Before Obama decided to send out Clark as his surrogate, he might have looked into Clark’s track record. It’s nothing if not entertaining.

Clark, who served as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during the Clinton Administration, was forced out of that position early for reasons Gen. Hugh Shelton, who served at the time as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, would only describe as “integrity and character issues.” During the Kosovo War, he created so many problems with his ill-advised statements to the press that Shelton was forced to convey a message from Secretary of Defense William Cohen to “get your #$*#& face off the TV. No more briefings. Period.”

None of this stopped Clark from becoming a Democrat for the purposes of running for public office, but apparently a phone call from Karl Rove could have. Clark claimed he was only joking when he made the very unhumorous statement that “I would have been a Republican if Karl Rove had returned my phone calls.” Rove is no fool. I guess Clark’s fawning praise of President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld during a 2001 speech didn’t convince Rove that it would be a good idea having Clark travel the country speaking on behalf of Republicans.

After Clark’s 2004 run for the presidency, he sought to build his fame as a TV analyst, and since his opinions were always interesting, lots of people started seeking them. That included Arianna Huffington, who extracted the following Clark wisdom about the prospect of war with Iran:

“You just have to read what’s in the Israeli press. The Jewish community is divided, but there is so much pressure being channeled from the New York money people to the office seekers.”

New York money people! You know what that means, right? Those are the really bad Jews, the ones who control all the banks and wield their sinister influence over U.S. foreign policy. Or so believe the most paranoid among us, including, it would appear, Wesley Clark.

So it’s no shock that Clark would go on national television and speak in such dismissive terms about McCain’s military service. No one, including McCain, believes McCain has earned the presidency solely on the basis of getting shot down and captured. So by attacking that straw dog, Clark accomplished nothing but to make a fool of himself. A man does what comes naturally to him.

In the process, Clark unwittingly gave the green light to the left’s most unhinged to unleash far more vitriolic attacks on McCain’s service. Throughout the campaign, Obama has seen nothing to gain by attacking McCain’s experience as a six-year prisoner of war, especially when McCain could have been released early as a propaganda stunt, but refused because his buddies wouldn’t be allowed to go along.

Yes. Attacking that would be crazy, and even Obama’s seething-mad, antiwar left-wing supporters followed his lead – until Clark spoke up. The line crossed, stories began to appear accusing McCain of being a poor serviceman, and even of committing treason during his captivity.

Now Obama has to clean up Clark’s mess, but he can’t unload the mess that is Clark himself, because pro-Obama generals with familiar names are hard to find. Then again, if Clark was so convinced of Obama’s qualifications, why did he support Hillary Clinton during the primaries?

It doesn’t really matter. Obama needs a general, and he’s stuck with Wesley Clark – and Clark’s mouth.

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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