n. slang
1. A thug hired to intimidate or harm opponents.
2. A stupid or oafish person.
-Dictionary.com
Retired Wesley Clark, former Supreme Commander of NATO, is now going to run for the Democratic nomination for president. He was responsible for bombing civilian Serbians during the conflict in Kosovo in order to get Monica Lewinsky out of the headlines for fellow Arkansas native Bill Clinton.
While listening to News and Views with Ed Schultz earlier today I heard numerous references to Clark's exalted military career. They were comparing him to the likes of George Washington and Dwight Eisenhower. To me, "drive-by bombing" a third world country so you can get your President's oval-office fellatio out of the headlines isn't the type of qualification I'm looking for in a general-turned-president.
Think his military background should at least mean he's a good leader? Wrong again. Listen to this quote from his own book,
Waging Modern War, and keep in mind that he was supposed to be the Supreme Commander of NATO at the time:
"[If NATO countries] wanted to fire a few cruise missiles to make a political statement, did I have the right to say they couldn't?"
He is responding to criticism of the bombing campaigns. As supreme commander, isn't it his decision? This quote isn't one I'd expect to hear from a strong leader.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Clark run with Hillary Clinton as vice president. In this scenario the Clintons would have a puppet in the oval office. If things go bad, Clark would take the fall leaving Hillary relatively clean to run in 2008.
Don't be fooled folks. Clark is the type of person who can be appealing to those of us with a conservative bent, but that is exactly why the Democrats like him so much. He's as much of a liberal as they are, but he doesn't look or act like them.
Electing Clark as President would be a big mistake.