Part Two: Be the Peacemaker
Wes Clark was a General, yes, and reminds us of this frequently. But the terms are often misprioritized. He's a military commander and a leader, yes, but he is also a diplomat. This is what Clark needs to emphasize at this moment...his ability to hear both sides of the issue, to negotiate in sticky, dangerous and divisive environments. His message needs to be one of unification amid disunity.
He needs to call himself a "peacemaker".
What I'd like to hear him say in tonight's debate:
"You know that I have made my career as a leader and military commander, but I have also been a diplomat and a peacemaker. And this is important. We are living in a nation divided by economic means and political sympathies. When I hear John Edwards talk about the 'Two Americas' I understand what he is saying. It's a good debate...a good idea...one borrowed from Benjamin Disraeli, I might add. But what I would like to emphasize is the one America that we are missing...the middle of America...the good middle that is still with us, the areas where we join in common philosophies and responsibilities...as Americans."
"What I am looking for is a lasting peace for America...an America shattered to the core by attack from without and disunity within. I want to end the politics of division and outrage. During the Bush years, it seems all we know is interminable war and endless debt. Just today we've heard that, counter to what was said in the President's State of the Union address, the CIA believes that civil war may be about to break out in Iraq. Others may feel at times that civil war is imminent here, if you listen to talk radio enough. I want to bring feeling that to an end."
My campaign is about ending war and debt, and replacing it with a secure peace and renewed prosperity. I waged a war in the Balkans. But I also waged peace there and brought a potential genocide to an end. I have worked with human rights activists and cruel dictators alike. You know that I have served under Republican and Democratic administrations alike. I am an independent-minded man, a non-partisan man, but a man who feels that the good middle of America is yearning to unify behind good Democratic principles. Those are the principles I have fought for, and those are the principles that will bring us peace again. A lasting peace...that's what the stakes of this election are about."
