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www.observer.com/pages/story.asp?ID=8017 - 17k - Cached
Wesley Clark: Is He The Man to Beat Bush?
It should be no surprise that George W. Bush is turning out to be one of the worst U.S. Presidents in memory, one who may be leading the country toward a financial debacle. When Mr. Bush was running for office, it was pointed out that he’d never been successful at any career he’d tried his hand at; all of his opportunities had been created for him by others, who were bound to him by family connections. And when he goofed, there was always some dark-suited fixer who could clean up his mess. The problem is that the mess Mr. Bush is now making involves the entire country and the world at large. And the men and women in dark suits surrounding him are not providing him with any balance.
As a chorus line of Democratic candidates jostle for the job of taking on Mr. Bush next fall, there may be one who seems to have what it takes to actually win and save the country from four more years of Mr. Bush’s stunning ineptitude. We’re talking, of course, about Wesley Clark.
As a candidate, he’s about as good as they get. The other Democratic hopefuls will have a hard time dimming the lights on General Clark’s résumé: a Southerner who was first in his class at West Point, a Rhodes scholar, wounded in combat in Vietnam, a recipient of the Purple Heart and the Silver Star, a general at the young age of 43, a distinguished military career in which he rose to be America’s top commander in Europe and NATO’s supreme military chief. When he was commanding NATO forces, General Clark created an alliance of 19 nations to join forces in the war in Kosovo—a stark contrast to Mr. Bush’s cowboy diplomacy in Iraq. The general is also said to be intensely competitive—"He is competitive drinking coffee with you," said a senior State Department official—a quality which will be necessary to neutralize the President’s $170 million re-election campaign.
George Bush is clearly in way over his skill level. Running a country takes intelligence, judgment and occasionally wisdom. Instead, this President’s decisions fly in the face of logic and common sense. Rather than grappling with the very real problems facing America—a ballooning federal deficit, the threat of Islamic terrorism, a growing number of families living below the poverty line—he offers a risky tax cut and a foreign policy that gets us into a hugely expensive war with no exit strategy and that alienates our previously reliable allies. Rather than level with the American people and ask for sacrifices, he just recedes further into a land of make-believe, exhibiting the flawed character of a man who would choose to preserve his own popularity at the expense of the well-being of the country.
Where are the wise counselors who will save Mr. Bush from himself? Certainly not in his administration; there doesn’t appear to be anyone there with a smart economic bone in his or her body. And Mr. Bush’s foreign-policy advisers are still living under the outdated delusion that the U.S. can control nations and cultures with its might.
Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, George Bush has been hiding behind a false cloud of bravado and patriotism. If Wesley Clark becomes the Democratic nominee, he stands a good chance of calling Mr. Bush’s bluff and returning the country to a saner, wiser place.
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