Clark & the Republicans |Talking Points Memo 9/26 | by Joshua Micah Marshall
Marshall continues to counter criticisms of WKC with research and well-reasoned arguments. Today he takes up just how much should be made of the general's speaking at Republican events and seeming to support the administration before joining CNN just before 9/11.
He concludes: There's this idea afoot that Clark got into the Democratic party out of some sort of opportunism, and that this happened after 9/11. Frankly, this makes no sense. Is there really any time over the last two years that getting into the Democratic party would have seemed like a good way to get into office or advance politically? Particularly in a state like Arkansas which has been trending Republican? I mean, sad to say, but I don't see it. At the moment, President Bush is looking weaker and weaker. But that's pretty recent. Clark is clearly new to the Democratic party on many levels. But as explanations go, this strikes me as an awfully weak one.
Hack's Target: Reporting for Duty: Wesley Clark
Retired lt. general David Hackworth, oft quoted by the right for coining the memorable aspersion "perfumed prince," is man enough to change his mind in this column for SFTT.org (Soldiers For the Truth). Interviewing Clark for Maxim (have they also interviewed Lieberman?), Hackworth raves: For the record, I never served with Clark. But after spending three hours interviewing the man for Maxim's November issue, I'm impressed. He is insightful, he has his act together, he understands what makes national security tick and he thinks on his feet somewhere around Mach 3. No big surprise, since he graduated first in his class from West Point, which puts him in the super-smart set with Robert E. Lee, Douglas MacArthur and Maxwell Taylor.
Almost more interesting is Hackworth's expression of the professional soldier's disdain for the chickenhawks: No doubt he's made his share of enemies. He doesn't suffer fools easily and wouldn't have allowed the dilettantes who convinced Dubya to do Iraq to even cut the White House lawn. So he should prepare for a fair amount of dart-throwing from detractors he's ripped into during the past three decades.
Eating a little crow, Hackworth acknowledges Hey, I am one of those: I took a swing at Clark during the Kosovo campaign when I thought he screwed up the operation, and I called him a "Perfumed Prince." Only years later did I discover from his book and other research that I was wrong; the blame should have been worn by British timidity and William Cohen, U.S. SecDef at the time.
Perhaps most encouraging is this homely little detail: At the interview, Clark came along without the standard platoon of handlers and treated the little folks who poured the coffee and served the bacon and eggs with exactly the same respect and consideration he gave the biggies in the dining room like my colleague Larry King and Bob Tisch, the Regency Hotel's owner. An appealing common touch.
Someone who attended the DNC fundraiser after the Democratic debate yesterday reported that Clark made it a point to go back to the kitchen at the hotel's ballroom to thank the staff for their efforts. Ahh, the gentile courtesy of the real Southerner.
Hackworth's conclusion is the stuff of double-truck newspaper ads for blockbuster movies: But if he wins the election, don't expect an Andrew Jackson field-soldier type. Clark's an intellectual, and his military career is more like Ike's, that of a staff guy and a brilliant high-level commander. Can he make tough decisions? Bet on it. Just like Ike did during his eight hard but prosperous years as president.
Maybe's he's looking for a job. Why should he be different?