Wes Clark, Iran and *#&$&^$%&%!2008

[CarolNYC]

#%*&#%&#^%@#)((#@%*!?!?

I am so tired of seeing people complaining and knocking Wes Clark for not having announced yet whether he’s decided to run or not for ‘08. I see the suppositions that the only reason possible that he’s not jumping in because of his loyalty to the Clintons, the accusations that he’s jerking us around, the bellyaching over why he can’t make a decision, the worry that he’s making the same mistake as last time, the contentions that he knows he can’t win because he was supposedly such a bad campaigner last time, and on and on.

I understand that those who have another candidate, or have an axe to grind, or have some other reason that I in my political naivete can’t fathom have reasons of their own for wanting to push these things...But there are Clarkies too who are expressing much frustration and annoyance.

Wes has told us a number of times recently why he’s delaying his decision. He’s worried about the policy, he’s worried especially about Iran.

He had this to say on the Ed Schultz Show just last week:

Ed: Are gonna jump in this Presidential race?

Wes: I haven’t said I won’t.

Ed: I like that. What does that mean?

Wes: I’ve got a lot of different issues I’m working right now. In particular, I’m really working policy issues and once you get into a race, it’s all about politics. People don’t take seriously what you say, they just they just grade you on your sort of litmus test of where you are on a spectrum of left to right and it’s a horse race coverage. I’m interested in serious issues, uh, not only Iran but also the issues you were talking about that I came in on the end of . I’m interested in what the American family, what the worker, what the middle class family’s going to do five years and ten years and fifteen years from now.....

(snip)

Ed: ....A very unselfish view and I think the point you’re making is that when you announce as a candidate you don’t get taken as seriously cause you’re out there trying to gain people’s favor and some people will say anything to do it.

Wes: Well, you know, that was my perception the last time. When I ran the last time it was very difficult to cut through the politics to get to the points I was trying to make.

(snip)

Ed: When will you be making a decision on your Presidential run?

Wes: I don’t have any timelines on that Um, like I said, I’m working the policies, not the politics.

http://securingamerica.com/node/2262

This is what he told Mark Green on AAR’s “Politically Direct” last month:

Mark Green: Might you run on '08, and might you be (laughs) the Eisenhower for Iraq? By the way, John Soltz told me to ask you that question. (laughs)

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I don't think history repeats itself exactly like that. I haven't said I'm not going to run. I, I haven't taken the steps of forming an exploratory committee. I'm very interested right now in trying to help the Democratic Party pick the right policy as it moves forward, and then we'll have to see as the weeks go by as to whether there's more to be done or not.

Mark Green: One more question on that: Obviously candidates, yesterday Senator Dodd, are announcing now, and having been a candidate, every day you're not running y-y-you're not raising funds, which regrettably is a sine qua non of a candidacy. About when might you have to move from the policy focus you're bringing to Iraq and start actually running and raising funds?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Oh, sometime within the next few weeks.

Mark Green: Oh, that soon? Wh-

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I don't think you're going to wait six months-

Mark Green: Well, I'm not-

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: -but I don't have a definite timeline, and, and I haven't made a decision.

Mark Green: Sure.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I'm still working through this issue, and, and, and weighing it and mostly I'm worried about the policy.

Mark Green: General Clark-

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Once a person becomes a candidate, then everything they say becomes viewed through a political lens. I don't want this viewed through a political lens. This should be viewed as a policy issue.

http://securingamerica.com/node/2121

And here’s what he told Rachel Maddow the same day:

Rachel Maddow: General Clark, one final question for you: Any chance you're going to run for President in 2008?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I haven't made any decisions on that. I haven't said I won't, and right now, I'm, I'm really concerned about the policy. And you know, what I learned that last time was that as soon as you start talking about running, then people say, 'Aw well, he's just saying that for political reasons.'

Rachel Maddow: Yeah.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: So, I'd like to get these positions out. I'd like the American people and especially your listeners here on Air America to understand these positions. These are not put out there for some political gamesmanship. This is what I believe. I've spent my lifetime in public service. These are, I believe, the right ways to go. Fix the strategy. They've got to find an alternative to a showdown with Iran before it's too late. Otherwise we'll have to follow through with a showdown, and the Iranians won't like it, but we won't like it either. So, don't use force unless you absolutely have to. This administration's marching us towards situation where they could've avoided the use of force, and it, and they may be ultimately then they feel they're forced to use it. They aren't, not yet. So, I don't want to talk about politics. I want to get the policy right.

http://securingamerica.com/node/2118

But yet you still get people complaining like Clark is actually doing us a disservice by trying to work the policy rather than the politics on this, that he has no right to hurt his chances to raise enough money to gain the nomination, that he couldn’t possibly be effective in this debate unless he’s a Presidential candidate....

We know he’s been advising Congress, as Maxine Waters mentioned on Hardball a couple of weeks ago. We know he’s been doing so for quite a while. And, on his most recent Kos diary, he spoke of influencing Republicans as well as Democrats.....

”So if we build enough of a groundswell, if we concentrate not just on Democrats but on Republicans, we CAN sway this policy.”

“I've found non-democrats very concerned. They don't question whether Iran is engaged in Iraq, or whether Iran aims for nuclear weapons. They assume the worst. But they also want a policy that works. And many have begun to doubt the Bush administration.”

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/2/22/124931/486

So he is concerned about this upcoming mess with Iran. He is concerned about our future more than his own political interests....and somehow this seems to be interpreted as a negative, a reason to write him off for 2008, to become disgusted with him for not announcing yet, to saddle him with all kinds of ties to the Clintons. Maybe his focus on working the policy, his focus on trying to save the world from exploding by trying to head off this confrontation with Iran, will hurt his chances in 2008 but isn’t his focus still a good thing? Do we really expect so little of our leaders that we don’t even ask that they actually care about what happens to us? We need them to be self-serving panderers or they’re not worthy of our support?

This Iran thing is scary as hell. If you don’t think so, read Sy Hersh’s latest piece in The New Yorker.

And this morning I hear on the radio that they have been stopping Iranian officials in NYC who have been taking pictures of not usually photographed places like mass transit stations and I guess I’m supposed to be afraid and to hate these people, these people who only want to kill us, us the innocent who stand by while two madmen continue on their collision course toward disaster, one of them our lunatic Commander-in-Chief. But what the hey, we have no time for trivialities like that. We’ve got a Presidential election coming up in 2008 and we’ve got upcoming primaries to worry about. We can’t be worrying about stuff that’s happening now for God’s sake! Hell, it's only another war. We're already in the middle of two of them. What's one more?

Jump on Wes’ back for actually trying to stop a war rather than trying to become President if you must, consider him less than worthy of consideration for the '08 nomination for the effort, but please also take a moment to use the tools at www.stopiranwar.com to try to help him head off this disaster before it’s too late. And try to get others to give a moment of their time to forget '08 and worry about '07...just for a moment anyway. I don't know about you guys, but I REALLY don't want the US to attack Iran.