Clark Blog

Perhaps, it is time that the Left in America admitted they were wrong. Very, very wrong and maybe even blew the 2004, Presidential election because of it. Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and General Wesley Clark was a green (not as in Sierra Club "green" but rather new) candidate to be sure, but think back to the Primaries for a moment. Who was the only Democratic candidate to embrace Michael Moore? Well, if you guessed General Wesley Clark, you guessed right.

Many on the Left were reluctant to embrace Wes, because he had that dreaded "General" military tag before his name. Could a military man be trusted - wasn't the military part of the evil right-wing crowd? To be sure some are, but if one thinks back, it doesn't take long to realize the Busheviks made a concerted effort to drum out the best of the best and replace them all with the "yes" of the "yes Sir, Mister Bush! Whatever you say Mister Bush, Sir!" crowd. You know the likes of bungling and failed Tommy "Shockless and aweless" Franks and Ricardo "Torture 'em all and perjury master" Sanchez.

So, sure there are anti-American goose-stepping, lying and torturing punks in the US military. Bush made sure he kept and promoted every one of them. General Wesley Clark however, wasn't among their ilk.

Simply put, Wes Clark has his priorities and heart in the right place. The promise of America and the Constitution upon which it all rests means something to General Clark, and so do the military and the young men and women serving their country. He saw what happened in Vietnam and how arrogant leaders misused, manipulated and abused the military, the constitution and the American people. Rather than get out, he decided to stay in and change it. And change it he had.

Until the Busheviks went about the task of undoing all the good Clark and others had worked so hard at achieving, the United States military was making great strides toward meaningful evolution. Not only that, but while the likes of Clark had influence, they guided our political figures toward more wisely employing the military. Making sure the public stood behind the mission, and that it was based in reality and not complete fabrication, as the Downing Street Memo proved Bush's Iraq War to have been.

Still others on the Left didn't think General Wesley Clark was a "real" Democrat. Well, Clark's obvious idealistic nature, as demonstrated in his perception of what the military ought to be and the kind of institution he wanted it to be, prove he could be nothing but a "real" Democrat.

Republicans aren't "idealistic," they are fabricationists and revisionists. Out of thin air they have fabricated threats from Saddam, persecution of Christians and the absurd fantasy that George W. Bush is an "honest and upright man of integrity." Republicans have even managed to revise the Constitution without rewriting a single word of the precious document. They have convinced a plurality of Americans that there isn't -- totally ignoring the reality of the First Amendment -- a separation of Church and State. Further, Republicans have so altered the reality of the Founding Fathers, that many believe they were all evangelical Christians, which they weren't. Save for Madison, among the big five, the rest including George Washington, were Deists. Where in the midst of all that smoke, mirrors, fantasy and illusion is an idealist, like Wes Clark supposed to fit?

The people on the Left have to admit, they made a huge mistake by falling in behind John "I'm for and against the Iraq War" Kerry, and what's more, they need to own up to their failure to see General Clark, for what he really was. And what Clark was and is, is a "real" Democrat that probably could have -- with a little work -- beaten Bush.

Still to this day, while supposed "real" Democrats can't yet bring themselves to calling out Bush and Republicans on their failed military policy, Clark is leading the charge. At a recent fundraiser he said, "We have to make our legislators and president understand we believe in a volunteer force, and we expect him to have the leadership to guide our country in the right way in foreign affairs without wrecking the military institutions that keep us safe." But General Clark didn't stop there, because he also -- unlike supposed "real" Democrats -- called out Bush on one very important point, "(Bush) used fear, the fear of the American people to take us into a war that was purely elective."

How many years have we been waiting for some Democrat, any "real" Democrat to say that much? Bush did manipulate the American people's fear of another 911, to lie his way into the Iraq War, but don't wait for the supposed "real" Democrats to say that. Finally, while people like Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Joe Lieberman, John Edwards and Nancy Pelosi (and Nancy has been, for the most part, effective) are all trying to distance themselves from Howard Dean's fair, accurate and hard-hitting assessment of the Republican Party, General Wesley Clark is embracing him, "We've got to protect our freedom and our liberty," Clark said. "I'm proud of Howard Dean."

Perhaps it really is time that the Left in America admitted they were wrong -- Very, very wrong about General Wesley Clark.