Wesley Clark

Wesley Clark was wrapping up his last campaign stop of the night at a "harvest dinner" in a 105-year-old town hall when George Chase, 72, asked the question that has dogged Clark's campaign for two months: What did Hugh Shelton, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, mean when he said Clark had character and integrity issues? Clark, the former NATO commander now seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, paused. It's a question he's tired of answering, but he launched a spirited defense: A policy disagreement about the Balkans turned personal, and he stood up, spoke out against the wishes of his Pentagon bosses, and "saved 1.5 million Kosovar Albanians from being ethnically cleansed.

I STRONGLY agree with the op-ed piece by Thomas Oliphant of the Boston Globe ("Democratic Candidates Fighting the Wrong War," Oct. 15.) Oliphant was commenting on the Democratic candidates' debate in Phoenix. Media headlines read, "Wesley Clark draws fire from rivals at Arizona debate. " For one thing, Gen. Clark was attacked for voting Republican in the past. To me, Clark's having voted Republican simply means he is more likely to draw Republican and independent voters in a race against President Bush, and be the strongest candidate against him. Perhaps the real sin Gen. Clark was attacked for in the debate was not his Republican past, but his surprisingly strong showing in the national polls in the present, leading the Democratic field.

Candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination attacked newcomer Wesley Clark in a debate last night, accusing him of flip-flopping on the war in Iraq and betraying the party with his early support of the Bush administration. The criticisms in the nationally televised debate sought to derail the surprisingly strong candidacy of Clark, a retired Army general who entered the race last month. Former Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont opened the attack, saying Clark supported going to war in Iraq, then turned against it after it went badly.

It's now a rite of passage for Democratic presidential candidates to deplane in California and prop up the imperiled Gray Davis. Yesterday, it was Wesley Clark's turn. With less than a week remaining before Californians decide whether to fire the Democratic governor in a historic recall election, the ex-NATO commander gave his blessing to the beleaguered Davis team, lauding Davis as a man of courage who is bravely battling a Republican effort to undermine democracy and overturn the results of the 2002 election.

THERE'S A "Simpsons" episode in which two aliens run for president and effortlessly ape the bromides used by political candidates: "We must move forward, not backward. Upward, not forward. And always twirling, twirling, twirling toward freedom!" That's what Gen. Wesley Clark sounded like on the stump Monday at the first event in South Carolina for his incipient presidential campaign. Clark mouths the standard litany of Democratic issues. He drops a reference to Herbert Hoover, and Vietnam.

As the 10 Democratic presidential candidates prepare to debate in New York City today, the most compelling mystery is whether Wesley Clark will command the stage like Dwight Eisenhower - or crash and burn like Pete Dawkins. (Remember him?) Eisenhower was the fabled military hero who rescued the leaderless and powerless Republicans in the 1952 election. Dawkins was the retired brigadier general and Vietnam War hero who was hailed as the next U.S. senator from New Jersey back in 1988 - until he was trounced on Election Day, his wallet depleted and his ego bruised by the rough political combat.

It's too soon to know whether the impressive Wesley Clark has what it takes to go all the way, but one thing is clear right out of the box: My wife says a great pair of shoes can dress up anything, from jeans to an evening gown, and at a minimum, Wes Clark as VP would dress up any Democratic ticket in ways that boost the odds of a Democratic triumph in 2004. Without prematurely endorsing any particular pairing, let's consider a scenario and you'll see what I mean. Imagine a Kerry-Clark ticket for a moment.

Some Democratic voters uninspired by the party's nine announced presidential candidates are dreaming of a "Draft Wes Clark" boomlet. Never mind that Wesley Clark, a retired four-star general from Little Rock, has never held elected office or run for one, hasn't raised a dime of campaign money, and has no known position on any number of important political issues. Nevertheless, many Democrats see Clark, 58, as their best chance to beat President Bush in 2004, even though Clark won't even say if he is a Democrat.

I didn't pay close enough attention to the details of generalship in the Kosovo campaign to have a fully informed view of Gen. Wesley Clark. But based on his performance the other day on Meet the Press, I hope he runs for president. Why? If you're a Democrat these days, you mostly cringe or close your eyes when the party's presidential contenders talk national security. Can anyone watch John Edwards without thinking, this guy is trying a little too hard to convince us he's tough enough to be president?

Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic "has gotten stronger, not weaker, in the last two or three months," NATO commander Gen. Wesley K. Clark told a foreign-affairs forum last night. Clark, who led NATO forces in the successful 78-day air campaign that expelled Milosevic's forces from Kosovo last spring, said there would be no stability in the Balkans until Milosevic was removed from power. Clark said that NATO was doing all it could to oust the Serbian president and have him tried as a war criminal at an international court at the Hague, but he did not specify any timetable or plans the alliance has for removing Milosevic.