The Spouse: The General's Own MP (Newsweek - Gert Clark)

[VolcanoJen]

For those interested (and you don't have to admit said curiosity when it comes to the candidate's wives), here's a piece about Gert Clark in the upcoming Newsweek cover story on Wesley:



http://www.msnbc.com/news/969668.asp?0sl=-12

Excerpt:

Yet Gert Clark, 59, is hardly a meek, long-suffering military wife. An Irish Catholic who grew up in Brooklyn, she was working as an executive assistant on Wall Street in 1963 when she met the ambitious West Point cadet at a Navy dance (Clark and his friends crashed the party). “She’s got street smarts,” he says about her. Friends say she is opinionated and outspoken, and has as sharp a tongue as her husband. When the couple was stationed in Brandenburg, Germany, she publicly criticized the quality of the military school. Before one PTA meeting, someone asked her to kindly keep her opinions to herself. “It was like waving a red flag in front of a bull,” the general says with a smile. At the meeting, Gert spoke out long and loud.

For all the hassles of moving around, military life still agreed with her. Precise and disciplined like her husband, she can, acquaintances say, play the role of MP when it comes to her husband, policing who gets close to him. And though she never liked having to maintain a public presence, she is skilled at working a room. “Gert has a tremendous amount of experience in politics in that there is no more political place than the top echelon of the military,” says former Arkansas senator David Pryor. “She has a Ph.D. in that world.”

[demnan]

1. That's good. A man who marries a smart strong woman

has the self-confidence to lead effectively.