Someone on the straw poll thread asked why we were "all" so enamoured with Wes Clark. The short answer is that he shares my values (ugh, do I sound like a Republican?), he's smart enough to know what the right thing to do is, and honest and strong enough to do it.
Well, I have to admit, I initially fell for him because he was a retired 4-star against the war. I thought it was the only way we could beat an "incumbent war prezdint." Then I checked out his positions, and found out he was pro-choice, pro-gay, and pro-working guy. Wow! He was a retired general and a liberal too. He had me then.
I watched American Son (http://securingamerica.com/mediacenter). I saw him on the campaign trail (http://www.clark04.com/downloads/videos/, check out WebCam 4: Dartmouth). And I saw him answer hard questions about killing civilians in Bosnia.
I watched him get pushed out early and two days later fly to Wisconsin to endorse Kerry. I watched him get passed over for VP and the same day tell us to get our butts in gear to support Kerry/Edwards. He told us, "It's not about being the candidate. It's about getting your ideas accepted." I can't tell you how many times we supporters have been upset with him because he did what was right for the country instead of what was right for him. When Wes took the job with Fox News, we all thought it was a terrible political move (turns out it wasn't). But we were livid. But he had his guys tell us in no uncertain terms that this was not about us, or about him, but about the USA. And getting the message out to the people who watch Fox was more important than Wes Clark's political future.
I met Eric Massa who's now running for Congress in NY 29th. He was Wes's staff officer for 4 years in the Southern Command and then SHAPE. Wes saved his life by ordering him to see a doctor; when it turned out Eric had cancer, Wes cried. Eric told me that was the only direct order Wes had ever given him in 4 years. Eric also said, "You know that good feeling you have about General Clark? Work with him for 4 years. It only gets stronger and stronger every day."
I have to admit that I used to be more coherent in explaining why I think Wes Clark is such a powerful statesman. But as Eric said, the feeling just keeps getting stronger, and I'm not so good at putting it into words anymore.