To support Wesley Clark for President !
After initially supporting Dean from over a year ago, to becoming undecided about four months ago, Grand Poobah is now endorsing Wesley Clark. We have several candidates who would obviously make better Presidents than GW Bush, but Wes Clark stands apart for the following reasons:
1. Iraq.
I opposed the war and thought the Congressional resolutions passed before the war were dangerous for ceding power to the President not intended by the Constitution. But the resolutions passed, the war happened, the occupation is not going well, and the time to say "I told you so" is over. An increasing number of Americans realize the war was a mistake and want a plan for the future, not a lecture on the past. There is no candidate better suited than Clark to put together a coalition of America's allies to end the occupation peacefully, repair the fractures in foreign relations, and create a stable state in Iraq. Carol Moseley-Braun is correct when she says that the U.S. has an obligation to rebuild Iraq, and not 'cut and run.' Howard Dean has been great at telling us what should've been done last year with respect to Iraq. He has been unclear and inarticulate about his plans for Iraq next year .
2. Clark is a Visionary.
I'm tired of politicians who talk about the limitations of what can be done. I want a politician who speaks about the unlimited possibilities of what can be. When Wes Clark put out a 100 year plan, I knew this was a man who thinks big. He speaks of providing incentive for people to enter public service and to encourage a sense of commonwealth in the nation rather than the "what's in it for me" attitude that is so prevalent these days. And anyone who could run for President and even dare to speak of dreaming of time travel has got to be the candidate who believes in no limits to man's quest for achievement
3. Clark's Personal Background.
The fact that Clark grew up in the South during the Civil Rights era, spent an entire career in an organization that, for the past 50 years, has been disproportionately represented by minorities and working class whites leads me to believe that Clark is a candidate who can bridge racial and class divides. Clark has lived his life understanding and dealing with race and class issues, it's not a recent social project for him.
Even Clark's discussions of his religious conversion reflects a thoughtful decision based on where he was in his relationship with his ministers and God at the time. (Contrast with changing religion because of a bike path.)
4. Tax Policy.
Clark's tax proposal is one that returns to a truly progressive tax code. I have to read more details as they come out, but if families earning under $50,000 pay no income taxes and the tax burden is shifted to millionaires, then Clark is proposing the most progressive shift in the tax burden for America during my lifetime. Hopefully, he will reinstate the estate tax as well.
5. Health Care.
While Clark is not as progressive in his health care proposals as CMB or Kucinich, he would make the plan available that members of Congress have available to the public. Given the number of loud-mouthed, old Senators in the Congress who seem to have energy to raise millions of dollars every campaign cycle, they must have decent health care plans.
In no area has Dr. Dean disappointed more than health care. As an M.D., he should be making BOLD plans. Instead, he comes forth with a proposal that he says must be modest enough to pass Congress. Well if an internist President with a practicing G.P. as 1st Lady can't use the White House as a bully pulpit to make radical changes to the health care system, then there's a real problem with his leadership skills.
6. Electability
Until this past month, I didn't think this was an issue as I believed any Dem candidate with a reasonable chance to become the nominee would have an equal chance to beat Bush. That's no longer true. Dean's proposal to raise taxes, his awkwardness is addressing Southerners, his bizarre public pronouncements on religion in the campaign, and his overall failure to make a strong rationale for his candidacy beyond opposition to the war leads me to believe that he is just not ready for prime time.
Wes Clark is just an overall more appealing candidate. Clark can go on Univision and give an interview in Spanish; Clark can go to Brooklyn and speak to immigrants in Russian; Clark can go to Norfolk, VA or San Diego and be more enthusiastically received by veterans and military families; Clark can go to Louisiana and comfortably talk about religion, if he so chooses to raise the issue; Clark can campaign on social and tax fairness and not just on fiscal discipline.
Clark is just an overall better package than the rest.