I've always liked Clark's manner, his liberal stand on domestic issues, and his foreign policy expertise. Then a few weeks ago he came out with his tax plan. As this has always been the Achilles' Heel of my longtime fave candidate Howard Dean, I was forced to give a longer look at Clark. Dean's bad debate performance right before Iowa drove me into the undecided column. But the reason I was still undecided is that I was never happy with Clark's answers as to why he was fired. I feared that the GOP would easily smear him and defeat him over this issue.
Now, even though Howard has made a comeback of sorts in my eyes, getting back on message and reorganizing his campaign (presumably to do some things more professionally), I can't get over the tax issue. memo to Howard: you know those local taxes you say went up because of Bush's tax cuts? Guess what: They're not going back down when you repeal the cuts. Therefore you must define "tax fairness" now, and institute whatever that is at the same time you repeal Bush's cuts. Anyway, back to Wes.
Two days ago I read an article that assuaged my fears over Wesley Clark. I think it was on Salon, but am not sure (maybe Slate?). The gist of the article was that there was a survey done of European NATO brass on their opinion of Wesley Clark. Some were effusive in their praise, others were less so, stating that sometimes Clark would get into trouble fighting with superiors on principle. Hmmm. So Clark can make enemies by sticking to a position. Knowing how political the Pentagon can be, the story of Clark's firing is beginning to make sense. While I think it may not be standard protocol in the military to doggedly stick to a principle in the face of superiors, this does not disqualify Clark in my mind from Presidential consideration AT ALL.
I guess I'm sort of hoping that Dean comes up with the tax plan, but I'm losing hope every day and Wesley is looking better and better. But now at least I know that I certainly prefer Clark to Edwards.