Clark never has shown interest in the number two spot, and I don't think he's had a late conversion on that point. If anything Clark has been angling to achieve maximum effectiveness in influencing decisions being made this year on critical international issues that can't wait for the next President to respond to rationally. Clark said exactly that back in January when he explained his reasons for not having quickly jumped into the race.
Clark is multi-tasking policy and has been all year. He consults both with Democratic leaders in Congress and with declared Democratic candidates for President. Clark stated that the day he became a declared candidate his ability to provide expert insider advice would be severly colored by his perceived presidential ambitions and discounted accordingly. Clark has also provided counsel in apoltical settings, and I suspect strongly that a fair number of thinking diplomats in the Bush Administration and more than a handful of Republicans in Congress have sought his opinions also. Clark is dead serious about the immediate need for the U.S. to change direction in how it deals with Iran being of the utmost importance for several critical reasons which he has detailed extensively both in public and private. It can't wait for a Democrat to take the White House in 2009.
Another thing, Wes Clark I think accurately forsaw that the media was in a period of infatiation for the Democratic love triangle of Clinton, Obama, and Edwards, and entering the race early would have been sailing against that typhoon, putting out a whole lot of time and money that could better be used elsewhere or saved, until that infatuation grew a little colder. I think that time is now upon us which I wrote extensively about on my own blog, which I will repost now below. In short though, I strongly disagree that it is already too late for Clark to jump in. Here is my reasoning:
2008’s Second Season
America’s omnipresent attention deficit disorder is again on an annual collision course with the lazy hazy crazy days of summer. With more temptations calling our attention than sun drenched hours fill a day; few among us have the patience to sit still for 3 long months of Reruns. Catering to our need for novelty, TV moguls years back bit the bullet and introduced TV’s “Second Season”, alive with new characters, new plot lines; and compelling new reasons to tune in for an enhanced summer lineup.
So what’s in store for 2007? Some new Presidential candidates for us to follow, of course. In an era where networks fail to distinguish between their news and entertainment divisions, politics becomes another genre of “Reality TV”. “The Race for the White House” may be a popular hit, but its cast of characters hasn’t changed in six months. That’s far too long without new blood. There is a real risk of the ratings falling well before the scheduled Fall roll out of “Rounding the Final Corner.”
I write the above as a parody of sorts but the truth is too close for comfort. Media buzz can make or break a political candidate, and the media craves new personalities to promote, as well as classic conflicts to exploit. And so too does the public, which burns through new Reality TV shows like there’s no tomorrow. Even the most popular stand bys depend on new wrinkles to stay topical. As political reporting edges closer to center stage with the first 2008 primaries little more than six months off, those dueling political love triangles that the media has obsessed over continually are starting to lose their luster. Look, it’s still Rudy, John and Mitt mixing it up in the right corner, while yonder over left Hillary, John and Obama are still going at it. Is that all there is? Is that all there will be for six more months? Somehow I doubt it.
Actually the pundits already agree. On the Republican side at least, the race is viewed as wide open for Fred Thompson to join. Like Al Gore on the Democratic side, Fred Thompson is an iconic legend, an experienced political giant waiting in the wings, whose personal quest for the Presidency previously was denied by the narrowest of artificial margins, when the Supreme Court of the United… no, wait a minute, scratch that about Thompson, I was on the wrong page. Actually Fred Thompson is an ex back bench U.S. Senator who served for just 8 years ending in 2003, but many now say he is the right man for these times. Thompson might even be the long sought after “Next Reagan”. After all, he too is an actor. And it’s not just Fred Thompson whose been spotted in the G.O.P on deck circle; Chuck Hagel pops up sometimes also, with it never being said of him that it’s too late to enter the 2008 race. Even the G.O.P.'s fall guy from the past, Newt Ginritch, still gets a media future nod or two.
With Fred Thompson reportedly poised to officially enter the G.O.P. field within the month, a contemporary political truism stands ready to fall. Simply put it is this: with 2008’s Presidential race already costing record amounts of money, with the primary schedule now so condensed, and with a surplus of candidates currently crowding the media spotlight for attention, unless your name is Al Gore the time for throwing your hat in the ring has already passed. Nah. That's an urban Washington myth. Just watch and bear witness to the pending launch of 2008’s Presidential Second Season, as a new window of Presidential ambitions opens, and fresh faces eye the beckoning glare of a restless media’s fickle attention.
For this, much is owed to Al Gore, the actual political titan still waiting in the wings where he effectively underscores potential inadequacies in the previously announced Presidential field. Gore’s large and looming presence helped forge a widely shared though not as widely spoken conviction that the 2008 Presidential field is not yet set in stone. We know Al Gore. We watched Al Gore serve 8 years as America’s Vice President, then go on to win the 2000 Popular Vote to be President. Clearly Fred Thompson is no Al Gore, yet as we enter June of 2007, Fred Thompson is suddenly a decidedly viable potential Presidential candidate.
The media can quickly bolster Thompson’s chances if they choose to; or if they need to find a new political drama to pump up. At this supposedly “late date” they can breathe life into Thompson all by themselves or a push by forces active in the Republican base might still do so also; both paths to Thompson’s nomination remain plausible, despite the rest of the Republican field starting out with a 6 month head start on good old Fred.
In fact for both “B Teams” of Presidential candidates, those not linked to their political party’s dominant Presidential love triangles, having started their races so early may now be working to their disadvantage. They all risk type casting as familiar bit players rather than fresh new faces being yearned for. They certainly can’t draw attention to themselves by shaking up the field now via a late entry into it. Six months of overt campaigning with little to show for it has solidified their standing as overlooked. Fred Thompson looks like a better bet now than he would have in January.
So what of the Democratic side of the 08 ledger then, where the contemporary political myth of the closed Presidential field seems to be written deepest in stone? For starters, obviously Al Gore can still run if he wants to, though whether he wants to remains less obvious. Al Gore would be a formidable candidate if he sets his mind to it, but it isn’t just what Gore brings to the table that makes a second season entry viable, it’s also what the currently favored Democrats don’t.
Barack Obama is talented inspirational and charismatic, but he was still a state legislator the last time we elected a President, and in 2008 we will be electing the next “leader of the free world” at a time when the wheels in our corner at least appear to be falling off it. John Edwards is clearly talented as well, and while many view Edwards as a bit less inexperienced than Barack Obama, having one full term in the Senate under his belt, many also view Edwards as a bit less inspirational and charismatic than Obama.
Should the Democrats nominate Barack Obama, it is obvious to many observers that he will be harshly attacked during the General Election campaign over the brevity of his resume for one seeking the job of Commander in Chief. Should the Democrats nominate John Edwards, it is obvious to many observers that he will be harshly attacked during the General Election campaign over conflicts between his current positions and his prior voting record in the United States Senate that make the John Kerry of 2004 seem like consistency's Rock of Gibraltar by comparison.
And what about Hillary Clinton? Again, she too is obviously talented, and as the first female major Party candidate with a real chance of getting elected President, she comes with her own share of inspiration and charisma as well. Most will grant Clinton some experience credentials, but Hillary is also probably the only person in America capable of unifying and motivating an increasingly shattered Republican Party while simultaneously depressing influential activist elements of the Democratic Party’s base. Not exactly the strongest credentials for leading the Democratic Party to victory in 2008.
None of the above condemns either Obama Edwards or Clinton as unwinnable 2008 candidates, but neither are any of them remotely unbeatable, and the longer this 2008 Presidential Marathon race drags on, the more chinks in their collective front runner armor manifest. In a recent Iowa poll high numbers of voters, who can arguably be called the most knowledgeable in the nation about the current Democratic candidates, say they would still like to see additional candidates enter the race:
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070520/NEWS/305200007/-1/iowapoll07Over the last 50 years almost all Democratic Party front runners for the Presidential nomination (excepting sitting Presidents and VP’s) peaked too early and fell far short. And those races all started in earnest far later than this. There is space still set aside for Al Gore at the Democrats 2008 Presidential Table, but should he not step forward another candidate may well claim it, and that candidate most likely would be General Wesley Clark, another Democrat with an impressive resume and strong leadership credentials, who still pointedly repeats “I haven’t said I’m not running” whenever he is asked.
So it is not too late for either Al Gore or Wes Clark to enter the Presidential race, since the 2008 second season hasn’t even started yet. That window of opportunity officially reopens on the day Fred Thompson steps through it into the equally crowded Republican field. For those who claim that the Democratic nominee will inevitably emerge from the current front runners, I remind them that not long ago Hillary Clinton was deemed the inevitable Democratic nominee, while Barack Obama was merely a promising first term Senator. The official DNC Presidential Debates don’t start until mid July, most Democratic voters won’t tune in seriously before September at the earliest, and big money can quickly be raised from multiple small sources, as Barack Obama has emphatically shown.
And how might Wes Clark determine if Al Gore is passing on another Presidential run? Perhaps by the simplest means possible. I assume they both have each other’s phone number.
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