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My summary of his appearance on Meet The Press:
It was his best TV interview format performance. So often we just say so and so was great, that it loses meaning. This was the best I've seen Clark do. I will give credit to Russet too, he was on good behavior. I guess I disagree with some other posters about that, and I will comment more about Russet below. Clark came across as serious, fluent, sincere, and solid, with the emphasis on solid. Clark was at ease at all times. I was most impressed at how much mastery Clark showed of the political art of turning a question answer into the statement that you want to make. When done poorly it is obvious and clumsy, Clark was nailing it during this interview, and Russet let him speak. At the end of a comment Russet sometimes returned to a point, if he felt Clark slipped past it, which was fair. Clark pulled if off because he did answer Russet's question each time, quickly and efficiently, and then gracefully moved on to what Clark felt was important.
Clark turned Russet's first question about the Moore statement into a discussion about what is important to the voters. Essentially he did that each time the question was rephrased. The way Clark did it was by saying he is concerned about the future, not the past. He said as he has traveled across New Hampshire no voter has asked him about Michael Moore's comments. They talk about the loss of jobs, about health care issues.
Clark shifted easily into talking about his own background, having to move in with his grandparents when his father died and they moved back South. Never having much. Spending most of his time in the military making less than 50 Thousand a year, having to decide if they could afford to get a car repair that month. He talked about parents worrying about paying for braces for their kids teeth, etc. Clark spun into and out of his progressive income tax plan and what it would mean for working families, and he gave specifics. And he did all of that while giving answers to Russet's questions about the Moore statement. The fact that Clark moved so seamlessly into broader policy issues did, I will admit, have something to do with why Russet reframed the question a few times,
The key is Clark never came across as being evasive, instead he was gently dismissive of it as a real issue of concern to voters in New Hampshire now. He oozed confidence, no sense of squirming through an uncomfortable trap. The points Clark made regarding Moore's comments were simple and clear. Clark did say that he himself wouldn't have made that exact characterization, but Clark did not bite on the Moore is insulting the President or Presidency bit, or that Moore was out of bounds in any way, and Clark repeated that he hadn't looked into any of the facts involved. He framed it as a free speech issue without disavowing the content. Clark said he doesn't screen his supporters for what they will might at a rally. He said he saw Moore's comment as an expression of Moore's dissent. Further, and to me this was very important and telling about Clark's character, loyalty and convictions, Clark directly praised Michael Moore within one of his answers, saying that Moore has said a number of important things and made real contributions to America.
Clark was at his populist best when he said an era is over in America, where the assumption can be sold that if you give rich people more money somehow that will translate into more jobs for average Americans. It doesn't. He said the Bush tax agenda has been exposed and discredited. They aren't putting America back to work but he will. After keeping America safe, jobs is his highest priority.
Russet confronted Clark with past statements about promising not to let another incident like 9/11 happen again, and said how can you guarantee it? Clark said he did not offer any guarantees, of course there are no guarantees about anything of this sort. Clark very effectively laid out that scenario whereby Bush took office being warned about the danger of terrorists, but then proceeded to concentrate on a national missile defense system instead. having made no plans to deal with terrorism. Clark said that is failed leadership. Bush did not do everything he could to keep America safe, but that he, Clark, would. Clark said Bush has to be held responsible for his failings in that critical period. Further Clark again explained that while he was glad Hussein was out of power, there were other ways to deal with Hussein at the time other than launching that invasion the way Bush did. No immanent threat. Took our focus off of Bin Laden, who is still out there plotting against America. Regarding the "promise no more incidents like 9/11" " "gotcha" attempt, I think Clark did well.
The only way I think Clark could improve would be to specifically say, "perhaps my comments were not clear enough at the time, and left the impression that I was promising the impossible. Let me make this clear. Under my Administration there will be no more "incidents" of our nation being ill prepared to face and defend against a real threat to our safety, because the President of the United States was uninformed, inattentive, or predisposed for ideological reasons to look elsewhere for a threat, rather than focus on the one that all knowledgeable sources presented as most credible and immanent. That is my promise. It is not only possible for our President to make that guarantee, it is essential that he honor it, and I will." I really think that is the point Clark is making. Mostly it got across, and Clark KEPT THE HEAT ON BUSH for 9/11.
At one point Clark commented on how the Bush Administration cooked the intelligence to fit their ideological and political agenda. Russet said that was a serious charge, and could Clark back it, AND CLARK COULD! He was masterful in that segment, citing an intentionally leaked highly classified memo that the Bush administration used to buttress their claim of a link between Hussein and Bin Ladin link. Clark pointed out that it is standard national security policy to never comment on a leaked classified National Security document, for national security reasons. Doing so can compromise sources and methods used to gather intelligence, and it is not done, but the Bush Administration hyped the contents after they were "leaked". Very powerful stuff.
Clark was confronted with Kerry campaign negative flyers against Clark, and negative emails from Kerry's campaign sent out to the media over this weekend, about Clark's alleged Republican lobbying and cashing in on his military career. Clark firmly stuck to the high road. He said nothing negative about Kerry. Clark quickly ran down an overview of his own career and the breadth of his experiences, including his work in the private sector after leaving the military, and framed his private sector experience rounding out his career and better preparing him for the Presidency. He did not act or sound defensive. Clark did not dwell on it because he wanted to talk about the issues, and for a change, he was not letting his limited air time be dominated by responding to attacks made against him.
Clark was also asked about the need for all the candidates to secure some Primary victories by Feb. 3rd. Clark agreed that victories were needed, and he would get them, but did not quite nail himself to Feb. 3rd though he did cite his strength in a number of states voting on Feb. 3rd and after. Clark went out of his way to praise his grass roots volunteer movement and the commitment so many have made to his effort, both in New Hampshire and around the country. Clark fielded his "Republican past" one more time, this in the context of his older votes for some Republican Presidents, and he handled it smoothly, saying his vision of the Democratic party was one that was welcoming in disaffected Americans of various political leanings, to turn around our country form the crisis we are in, and he can reach those people. He said people grow, nimbly implying that he had certainly grown over the years since Nixon.
That's about it. Remember Clark did not have a full hour this time. He did a remarkable job of responding to all the hits out against him, while keeping his cool, and making his points. A remarkable performance all in all. One more time I will state. Clark has shown huge courage to stand his ground and not disavow Moore, despite wilting fire being directed against him. By doing so Clark keeps the issue of Bush's war record in the realm of public debate, where it will remain as long as Clark remains a viable candidate for the Democratic nomination, because they will keep going at him regarding it, I am sure of that. If Clark goes down, the issue most likely will go down with him, because it will then be seen as a big reason why Clark lost support, Kerry's comments made sure of that. On that basis alone I will say, if you are still wavering between candidates to back, and consider Clark among those worthy of your support, he has clearly earned it with this one. If we don't reward him for this stand, who will? This wouldn't be a bad time to donate money to his campaign either.
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