The Wes Way
The Wes Clark I Know
By Stan Davis
May 13, 2007
You see, I’ve never chosen my candidates based on their positions and programs. At the Presidential level, after all, the President has only limited power or control over the legislation that is passed. He/she can inspire and lead, but it’s the Congress that determines the shape of specific programs.
I’ve always chosen candidates based on how they think. What are their tie-breakers? What bedrock values and principles drive them to tip one way or another in making decisions?
That’s why I chose Wesley Clark as my candidate in May-June, 2003. I had seen him on CNN often, usually on Aaron Brown’s late and lamented "Newsnight" show, where Gen. Clark often cited traditional American values as being violated in the Iraq War, the Patriot Act, and so many other things.
What did I see specifically? Over time, Clark revealed more and more of who he is and what kind of leader he would be. Below is my crystallization of the Wes Clark I know, both from personal encounters (28 times in 13 cities in 8 states on 14 dates) and from his public speeches and interviews:
- Dialogue over Bullets
- "War is a failure" and "War must be the last, last, last resort." We must talk and listen to both enemies and friends.
- Cooperation over conflict: The time when America can go it alone, acting unilaterally, is gone, and conflicts must be approached from a global perspective.
- Diplomacy over confrontation: Clark’s record of hands-on diplomacy is unexcelled among all the non-incumbent Presidential candidates in my lifetime.
- Compassion
- Clark’s father died when young Wesley was four, and his mother limped along as a bank secretary. Even as a fast-rising superstar in the Army, he never made much money. At one point he took leave to learn how to rebuild the motor in his car since he couldn’t afford to have it repaired professionally.
- He was shaken by the integration trauma in Little Rock, Arkansas as a young teenager in the late 50s, and developed a well-honed sense for the plight of oppressed minorities of all kind. Out of that grew a deep commitment to equal and fair opportunity for all. This is shown in his proposals for health care, education, and equal access to "the system" for all. His sense of compassion doesn’t stem from an intellectual or academic study of the problems, but rather from having been there himself.
- Stewardship
- In his "100-Year Vision," Clark said that in a hundred years, the only things we do today that linger will be our Constitutional legacy and the state of the planet’s environment.
- Just like a flower or vegetable garden, the Constitution and the environment must be nourished – fed and watered regularly – in order for them to flourish. Otherwise the weeds of expediency begin to choke the garden, causing it to wither and die.
- He further knows that global warming and increasing independence from foreign oil are interrelated and matters of urgent national security.
- Service
- More or less in decreasing order of priority:
- To God
- To family
- To humanity
- To country
- ...
- To party
- Wes Clark has devoted his life to service.
- Patriotism
- I save "Patriotism" for the last because it requires some definition. Patriotism, to Clark, is not blind allegiance to the country; rather, it is a deep belief in the values and principles that make up the culture of the society, as embodied in the country’s institutions, systems, and processes. These have been in danger for the last several years.
- Principled dissent is what created America and must flourish.
- It embraces the rest of the values above.
There is more to Wes Clark, of course, such as his intellect and courage. But it is the five things above that drove me to his camp and which keep me there.
Stan Davis
Lakewood, CO