As someone who has read virtually everything General Clark has written, and watched virtually every appearance he's ever made on TV, I find it unfathomable that any of the other Democratic contenders could claim to be better equipped for cleaning up George Bush's mess, let alone being the candidate who would garner the most votes from those who won't automatically vote for whoever the Democratic nominee is. But obviously everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. I just wish those who don't share my opinion about Clark's bona fides could provide me an answer as to what they see in their preffered nominee that would make me understand what I'm ostensibly missing. No matter how many times I listen to those who don't agree with me about Clark, I've yet to hear an argument that illustrates that Clark is not the most equipped to make the most out of a bad situation in the middle east.
Thus, in light of Clark's sublime command of military capacity working "hand in glove" to achieve diplomatic potentials--as well as his firm grasp of all things domestic--I can't for the life of me imagine how Edwards or Hillary or Obama or Biden or Vilsack or Richardson or Gore would complete the sentence "I would make a better president than Wes Clark, AND garner the most amount of votes from the military and Right-leaning voters because...."
So, hopefully, those who don't see General Clark as their first choice can finish that sentence for me and satisfy my morbid curiosity. Because I've heard all of the arguments that undermine his reputation, credibility and character, and none of them hold any water when one looks beneath the surface.
As I've said before, I have a co-worker who voted for Bush and I've gotten him to look closely at Clark and he since said that he would be happy if Bush were replaced with Clark tomorrow. He also finds Clark to be VERY charismatic. So, if oodles of anecdotes such at that, along with this array of the accolades he's received from his peers over his career don't prove my point, what more would it take?
At the risk of sounding patronizing, I have to assume that those who don't share this point of view didn't see him in Alabamaa couple of weeks ago. Or see his appearance on C-span in November (which inspired my co-worker to tell me out of the blue: "I was really impressed by Clark on C-span yesterday. His military knowledge alone makes him so appealing. Even with the sound off he seems to have a real approachablity to him.") Or seen the biography American Son ...And I could go on.