The primary reasons why Wes Clark's candidacy didn't fly was because of untruths and irrelevancies; the biggest untruth being that he was fired for character and integrity issues. The other main ones being that, a) he almost started WWIII; b) he had previously been a Republican. (He had indeed voted for Reagan, but had actually always been an Independent as per military guidelines.); c) he was for a flag burning amendment
In other words, we turned down the best man for the job based on fallacies and issues that should have been moot.
Below the fold is evidence of such, starting with the treasonous Hugh Shelton character assassination based on, in his words, "politics."
Sometimes I still hear the argument that Wes was fired from the Pentagon. Leaving aside what Clinton said about it later, I'm surprised it's necessary to point out that when you consider the mentality of the average Pentagon house boy, it's probably a good sign that the likes of Richard Cohen wanted him out of the picture. (Leaving aside that, gee, it turns out that Wes did an end run around the Pentagon to get the U.S. to intervene in Rwanda and then in the Balkans. Sounds like a pretty sketchy character if you ask me.)
...According to three former Clinton aides, when Clinton approved the list of appointments submitted to him by Cohen, including the selection of General Joseph W. Ralston as the new commander of the NATO forces, it wasn't made clear to the President that this would cut Clark's term as the supreme commander by nearly three months. (Of this, Clinton later said at a press conference in Europe, "I had nothing to do with it.") Despite having been treated badly, Clark continued to serve for the following nine months. Clinton was reportedly furious when he realized the mistake that had been made, but he didn't want to go back on it lest he look indecisive, or further alienate military officials, with whom he had been on bad terms since the beginning of his presidency.
http://www.nybooks.com/...
I'm not saying Wes did every little thing perfectly during his campaign, but in fairness to a man who has given so much to the country, if there's a fallacy going around that he ran a bad campaign when, in actuality, he's quite the ideal candidate, he deserves to be acknowledged accordingly.
It's not his fault that many on the left dismissed him out of hand simply on the grounds that ALL generals are to be dismissed out of hand. This is quite ironic when you consider that guys like Kennedy, Levin and Wellstone said they voted no in large part to Clark's advice....yet the non-generals such as Hillary and Edwards voted yes; i.e., Dems' mistake, not Clark's.
Clark lost big momentum for saying he would support a ban on flag burning, even though he soon compromised and said that he'd "let the people decide." In light of how minor of an issue this is, and in light of how outspoken Wes has been for upholding the right to criticize the government, and in light of how hypersensitive the right and military folk can be over flag burning, this should have been a non-factor.
And it wasn't Wes' fault that he got called out for allowing Michael Moore to call Bush what he is: a "deserter." (Kind of makes you wonder how come all of the other candidates didn't step up to the plate to denounce the attacks on Wes over this since the facts showed that Bush is indeed a deserter.)
And there are those who will say, "Well, he's never been a legislator, so he wouldn't know how to get things done." Leaving aside just how VAST his experience is in working with government beauracracy, both in the military and Congress, if a leader has experience dealing with the politics involved with having to get a consensus from 19 countries about bombing targets and then successfully facilitating a peace accord, I'm sure he's got what it takes to nimbly orchestrate Congress.
And then there's the fallacy that he almost started WWIII. Another untruth that undermined his candidacy.
Finally, there's the bogus and subjective claim that he hasn't enough charisma. Those who feel this way are entitled to their opinions, but they shouldn't be asserting a subjective opinion as if it's a fact. The fact is that MANY people think Wes IS charismatic. He has the "charisma of integrity," as Kathy Bushman put it. And when I saw his speech at the Jefferson Dinner in February '03 I was literally jumping up and down and clapping ecstatically because it was inconceivable to me that the Dems would not nominate him. ...Because it was inconceivable that he wouldn't beat W in a landslide.
So if the left still isn't ready to concede that Wes Clark is the best man to replace President Buzzkill, they should at least step up to the plate an issue an apology to Wes for falling for the usual dirty tricks of the Republican noise machine and one Hugh Shelton instead of giving him the benefit of the doubt and doing their own research.
"Clark exhibits the best balance of professional ethics of any officer I know. Particularly noteworthy is his demonstrated selfless dedication to his men, his unit, and the Army. He exhibits absolute integrity of word, deed... he establishes and observes scrupulous ethical and moral standards."
-Colonel Lester E. Bennett, June 2, 1980
Defense Secretary William Perry who, as deputy defense secretary first encountered Clark in 1994 when he was a three-star on the Joint Staff: "I was enormously impressed by him," said Perry, a legendary Pentagon technologist who served as defense secretary under Clinton.
Perry was so impressed, in fact, that with Clark facing retirement unless a four-star job could be found for him, Perry overrode the Army and insisted that Clark be appointed commander of the U.S. Southern Command, one of the military's powerful regional commanders in chief, or CINCs. "I was never sorry for that appointment," Perry said.
"I asked a whole lot of my friends who were generals and colonels and majors, who served over General Clark and under General Clark, and every last one of them said to me that this is a good man, and if he were leading our nation they would be proud. Son of the South capable of making a dangerous world a safer place for everybody. A man we are going to make the next president of the United States."
- Ambassador Andrew Young, Dec. 21, 2003
Lt. Gen. James Hollingsworth, one of our Army's most distinguished war heroes, says: "Clark took a burst of AK fire, but didn't stop fighting. He stayed on the field 'til his mission was accomplished and his boys were safe. He was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart. And he earned 'em."