Was Obama Too Swift in Rejecting General Wesley Clark’s Salvo on McCain?

Amen! Why was the Obama camp so quick to distance themselves? Why didn't they put their own media force (publicists) on the clock to unspin what the McCain camp was doing? Two days after the comment was made and taken out of context the headlines read that "McCain Calls for Obama to Cut Clark Loose"! Well, first of all, Clark had acted as an adviser on national security but had no formal title and no formal affiliation with the Obama campaign. So, how do you cut someone loose that doesn't work for you? It is apparent that McCain is very threatened by Clark and is trying to clear him off the possible VEEP card. Obviously, this was a move to limit military experts from criticizing McCain's experience. Experience is supposed to be McCain's strong suit. So how strong can it be if a retired 4-star general can so easily point out its lack of relevance? Clark did say that John McCain was a "hero to him and hundreds of thousands and millions of others". That's not an attack! That's praise! The headlines could have easily read, "Clark Praises McCains Service and Calls Him a Hero" or "Clark Says McCain is his Hero". That's not what we got. We got McCain's camp trying to sweep Clark out of the way. McCain knows that Clark speaks the truth. Obama is playing into McCain's hands by not standing up and fighting back. Obama should get a little backbone and show us he's not afraid of the Republican machine! Where is the CHANGE you promised Mr. Obama?
Gimme something different...PLEASE!!!!!!!!!

The mass media have served us extremely poorly on this occasion -- as on other occasions when somebody (from either side of the partisan divide) has stated the truth or a fair opinion in such a way that it could be chopped into a cute soundbite and used out of context as a bludgeon.

Of course, the rightwing extremists then turned it into a lie, which is a shameful thing. The irresponsible media then allowed that lie to be repeated thousands of times, which is even more shameful.

Now, I personally believe that General Clark should not have commented on Mr. McCain's squadron leadership at all in that interview, and I don't think it was very clever to draw attention in that interview to Mr. Obama's lack of military and executive experience. Having said that, though, the points General Clark made were important and should have contibuted to a discussion that should be occurring.

I believe General Clark is a valuable asset to our country, to the Democratic party, and potentially to the Obama team. I hope he will not be lost to any of these just because of this invented controversy. It may just be that the Republicans fear nothing more just now than to have General Clark on the ticket with Mr. Obama. If I were a Democrat (and I'm not), I'd be encouraging Mr. Obama and the party leadership to give very serious consideration to putting General Clark on the ticket.

Clark wasn't found fit for any further military command by then Clinton appointed Chairman to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Hugh Shelton. You really think he would make a good VP?!

Look, he is just a democratic operative using his former occupation to make political/personal hay. Nothing special about that.

Kerry was "swiftboated" by fellow officers who served in the same unit and alongside him...

Army General Clark (a groundpounder) would only have a relatively limited ability to judge a Navy pilot McCain in comparison especially as they never served together in the same unit or even in the same service.

Such details take away some of the "thunder" do they not?

General Shelton admitted to the international tibune at the Hague, that any negative comments about Clark were just "politics." In other words Shelton had lied. In all ways Clark is Shelton's superior including holding "Head of State" status.

Ernie,

What is your source for your info on Shelton/Clark? Are you saying for "politics" whatever that is and not even for American consumption (the Hague?) it was OK for Shelton to throw Clark under the bus?

Never mind when one military member does that to another, it isn't "politics", it is the end of ones career, in this case Clark's.

Obviously, you don't want to see it this way, the real world way. Plus, I don't see how Clark ever was "Head of State" status ever without being president OR even superior to Shelton when he was JUNIOR to Shelton in military rank and always was...

Jay, you obviously don't know much about how upper military echelons work, and not much about Wes Clark either.

Clark was the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO (and yes, that office does enjoy head of state status), as well as the Commander in Chief of US European Command. But there is no natural progression from either to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Occasionally the SACEUR is selected to be CJCS (Shalikashvili was, but Eisenhower wasn't), and occasionally a unified commander in chief is as well (Schwartzkopf wasn't), but it is the exception rather than the rule, and NO reflection on Clark or any of the others.

It's true that Clark did not serve in the same service as John McCain, but then he did not disparage McCain's service as a naval officer so that is irrelevant.

What Clark pointed out is that McCain has never been assigned to any military position involved in the making of military policy or strategic command decisions. He didn't even command a unit in combat. I'm paraphrasing of course, but the point is this. McCain dropped the bombs; he did not have to give the orders to drop the bombs, nor did he decide whether or where the bombs would be dropped. He really doesn't know any more about waging war, from a decision-making stand-point, than any other senator... which is practically nothing at all. And this is something on which Clark is very well qualified to comment.

As for what Ernie said, Shelton's "politics" against Clark was very much for domestic consumption, and happened well after they had both retired from active duty so had nothing to do with anything military. It was when Clark was running for president and Shelton was working for John Edward's campaign. The story is fairly well known to anyone who followed the 2004 primaries.

Post a comment

Commenters: You must preview your comment before posting. And please only hit "Post" once; it may take a while, but your comment is being processed. Thanks.