I have just come from my first opportunity to meet General Wesley Clark at a fundraiser in Houston for progressive reformer Bob Gammage http://gammageforgovernor.com/ . In his "Winning Modern Wars", Clark had articulated an enlightened and compelling vision of American foreign policy that would hearten anyone who was troubled by the violent, corrupt, and counterproductive policy of the Bush administration these last few years, and I was eager to meet the author. (Thanks to jen, below, for the link http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/
to General Clark's Keynote address Monday 1/30/06, 12:15PM EST at the "Real State of U.S. Foreign Policy Forum", hosted by Steve Clemons and the New America Foundation.)
But I was absolutely blown away by this very calm, modest, youthful man, comfortable with himself and with other people. At Jim Henley's http://henleyforcongress.com/ campaign kick off to run against neocon John Culberson in Houston, Jim's sister Susan McDougall had told me that she personally knows Wes Clark and that he's a really nice person. Yet I was blown away by how unassuming and modest and easy to talk to he was.
He spoke of teaching his political philosophy students (I guess at West Point) about the constitution and the federalist papers and about how the founding fathers were trying to figure out a way to protect this government from cliques which form naturally in human culture but are devastating to the general welfare. They reasoned that they were not going to change human nature, but could temper the destructive fallout of powerful cliques by having three branches of government, where power confronted power in order for the general welfare to benefit.
If you read the last chapter of "Winning Modern Wars" and you saw the interview of Chile's new president, Michelle Bachelet, on PBS last night, you will see kindred spirits in these two leaders, Clark and Bachelet, whose quiet commitment to fairness and human ideals are what we desperately need. General Clark talked about riding in a cab with a Pakistani man who said that he is the last of three brothers to drive a cab, The three brothers, who came to America 10 years ago, own a building and a restaurant and as soon as he makes a little more money he will stop driving a cab and join them in their business. Wes Clark said that this is what makes this country great. It's not the missiles or the power to take down Saddam Hussein but it's the opportunity for everyone to create a life for themselves to the best of their ability and to be accepted for who they are.
I can't say strongly enough that we need this man's courage, intelligence and leadership to overcome the villains who are currently destroying everything we value.