Something about Clark's candidacy has bothered me from the beginning. For the longest time I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
True, he has no real-world political experience, but that hasn't stopped other candidates from running and, in some local races, winning. His positions differ little from those of the other candidates, he seems likeable enough, and his record ...
Well, there's his record. Personally, who he voted for or supported in the past has little bearing on my regard for him as a candidate. His past may, however, affect his candidacy when Rove & Co cast it in a certain light, as they are wont to do. Lord knows there's enough potential material to work with, from bombing TV stations in the Balkans to the Waco debacle. Who knows what other dirt Rummy can dig up or who he can get to smear the former general. And wouldn't the vast rightwing conspiracy love to use Waco and Posse Commitatus to drag Janet Reno and Clinton through the mud (again).
But that's not it. That's tinfoil.
No, it finally struck me the other day. Wesley Clark is the perfect candidate for those who buy into the neocon world-view. The War on Terror. Homeland security. The pervasive fear mentality that says the only way to fight terrorism is to attack someone. The only real difference between George W Bush and Wesley Clark, in that case, is that Clark seems to have a better chance of winning. Or at least he would do less harm.
So, some might say, why wouldn't that work? Well, besides the fact that it perpetuates a self-destructive delusion, it won't work because the current administration is still capable of creating an illusion of victory in the terror war. Already they plan to start bringing troops home from Iraq by next spring. And it's not unlikely that they could install a puppet government before next November. (Probably not one headed by Chalabi, but the CIA still has Khazraji in the wings, I hear.) Voila, a declaration of victory and the Pretender is cut off at the knees.
There's no guarantee that the deception would play out, of course. Clark could still win on the Better Than Bush ticket. But a President Clark (shades of B5!) still doesn't address the basic disconnect in America between terror and America's use of power in the international arena.