As some may have noticed, I'm a strong supporter of Clark, since I'm not a supporter because of the potential electability I wanted to explain my point, to toss some new arguments into the debate.
I support Clark because I believe that the central point of the next 8 years is foreign policy. Not in the way that it is the potential loose or win thing in the election, but i think in the next years the basic ground for a new way of international politics has to be build. The UN needs to be reformed, this century has the potential for the biggest international problems that affect all mankind ever, we need international cooperation to solve them. The climate change combined with the social problems could affect billions in a way never before seen.
Just look at the relationship between the US and China, many of the republicans really think that the US should prepare for the next cold war, but to prepare for a cold war means to start a cold war.
The european-american relationship is one of the most important points, it must be repaired and strengthened, we need more than a military alliance we need a policy alliance. Only if the two centerpoles of democracy stand together, this century has a chance, we don't want to repeat the last one.
All democratic candidates agree on a lot of these points, and all would make it better than the Bush administration, but I think only Wesley Clark has the chance to really make a difference.
If Wesley Clark was president the european-american relation would have a kind of jump start, the approval rating for the US would rise immediately (Clark is well known and liked in europe ) and all european leaders would call to congratulate their old wartime colleague.
And Clark wouldn't wait to start a new policy, he wouldn't need time to adapt to the White House, he knows this building he even worked in it. On foreign policy he wouldn't wait a day to start a new policy, he would need only some hours to get the latest classified information on national security, on domestic issues I expect a Clinton team with some surprises ( i expect a hand stretched out to the republican party, a good move after the Neocons have fallen ) and I expect Wesley Clark.
I think not everybody quite gets the point how brilliant this man is. How long has he been in the spotlight as a politician now ?
4 months ? 5 months ? I couldn't even imagine anybody whou would do so well in todays media politics with this kind of start. Sure he made mistakes but you can count them on one hand, and he gets better with every interview, every debate every rally.
Clark has one other thing that makes him exceptional, he cares about people, there are several stories of him not sleeping when pilots flew attacks on Serbia, tears running down his cheek when his men were killed in training, him treating even the oddest guy fair.
I just can't stop calling in attention the book "A Problem from hell:America and the Age of Genocide" from Samantha Powers (2003 Pulitzer Prize) , she writes that Clark was the only one at the Pentagon who supported intervention in Rwanda. Today there are estimates that 2000 soldiers would have been enough to at least partly stop the genocide in Rwanda. The same thing with Kosovo, no question he was fired afterward, but mostly because he kept arguing for ground troops and Apaches on TV, afterwards it was clear that his proposals would have been the right thing to save more lives and to force Milosevic into an agreement earlier.
When you look at his military career, there has been said some strange things about him, but if you look at exactly what he has done it makes him even more impressive, he was regularly assigned to horrible posts to fix things, it's no wonder the other guys don't liked him, imagine some guy who is called just to fix the things one of your friends has messed up, who would like someone like this ?
This is the main point with Wesley Clark he's a very fast learner an extremely intelligent guy and a man who can talk to you about every philosophy of the last 2 centuries.
I expect this to be seen in his domestic policy, he will do things that work, he'll look for solutions, he'll learn every kind of issue very fast, and he will be determined to do the right thing as soon as he sees it.
Determination is maybe one of his biggest assets, during Kosovo he slept only 4 hours a night for the whole campaign. There are a lot of stories about his determination, i think that's a very good thing in a president.
And he has the one big thing that could make him a really great president, he looks good on TV ;) , I mean that's the only reason why Bush was elected.
Wesley Clark, is in many ways the classic idea of a republican politician ( and i mean the Republic not the party ) a brave soldier mixed with a determined scholar and the looks of Caesar ( a bit at least), that's why I was extremely sceptic of him, it sounds too strange it's like the idea of a history buff who read to many roman classics ( that's me). So I tested him and I can proudly say I read every article and I saw every interview and speech of Wesley Clark ( at least all the stuff that is or was online), and he's really this guy , and I'm impressed, I want this kind of guy to lead the free world. I want Wesley Clark.
