Tales from the Primary Trail: Gen. Wesley Clark to the Rescue?

[in_cog_ni_to]

Read it on DU!


http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/03/11/18_clark.html

Tales from the Primary Trail: Gen. Wesley Clark to the Rescue?
November 18, 2003
By Michael McCord

Editor's Note: Democratic Underground welcomes articles about individual Democratic candidates for political office. Publication of these articles does not imply endorsement of any candidate by the editors of Democratic Underground.

<snip>One day after 31 Italians and Iraqis died in a terrorist attack in Nasariya, Iraq, retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark stepped again into the parallel universe known as the New Hampshire Presidential Primary. Clark's latest visit to the seaside city of Portsmouth coincided with a Bush administration emergency meeting in Washington, D.C. to deal with the growing political mess and military frustration in "liberated" Iraq.

The Iraqi insurgents and the American handpicked Iraqi Governing Council aren't providing much support to Bush's reelection efforts and it's time for the latest policy shift towards something that can best be interpreted as force-fed democracy. It's also time to change the story line and accompanying visuals - which explains why U.S. Senate Republicans took to the floor for a 40-hour slip into the rabbit hole to highlight the fates of a few right-wing judges trapped in filibuster purgatory by Senate Democrats. Time to forget, for a day or a few news cycles, about deadly guerrilla attacks on U.S. troops, those missing weapons of mass destruction and "Mission Accomplished" - it was "Justice for Judges" day at the D.C. day care center.

Here's the rub. Unlike any New Hampshire primary since 1968, when the insurgent candidacy of Sen. Eugene McCarthy caught fire following the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, the issue of foreign affairs really matters. What happens in Baghdad and Nasariya is shaping events on the primary ground in Concord, Manchester, and Keene - which might play into the strengths of Gen. Clark with his four-star resume (top in his class at West Point, Rhodes Scholar, wounded in Vietnam, architect of the successful, controversial, and mostly anonymous Kosovo conflict and CNN military analyst) and the aura of a modern-day Cincinnatus called to duty in September by a grass-root draft movement.<snip>

[Democrats unite]

1. Thought this was a great piece

and a good read.

[roguevalley]

2. Cincinnatus is a great moniker here. The last American called that

was George Washington. :)

[AmericanDem]

3. good read

thanks

[Spazito]

4. Thanks for the link..

a very good article.