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Ex-Gen. Clark Decides to Join White House Race

Tuesday, September 16, 2003 12:14 p.m. ET
By Patricia Wilson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former NATO commander and political novice Wesley Clark has decided to join the 2004 White House race, making the retired four-star general the 10th Democratic presidential candidate, sources close to him said on Tuesday.

Clark, a former top Pentagon war planner who headed the 1999 NATO bombing campaign in Kosovo but is a newcomer to the battlefield of presidential politics, was to announce his decision in Little Rock , Arkansas on Wednesday, the sources said.

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The article also goes to talk about how Clark "agonized" over this decision for months. I was impressed with Clark earlier this year when I saw him on MEET THE PRESS, but when I read things like that, I cringe. Nobody "agonizes" over the decision to run for President. It's not as if Clark was answering the clarion call of the American people -- "Help us, Wesley Clark, you're our only hope" -- though I'm sure that's how Clark appears to be seeing/spinning this. The "Draft Clark" thing is about as reliable and meaningful as the "Put the Star Wars Kid in Episode III" petition.

I dunno. I should be glad to have someone like Clark in the Democratic race, I suppose, but it just seems so... blatantly manipulative that it triggers my cynic reflex. Which happens more and more as I get older, I find.

On a related note, I started watching the first episode of HBO's K STREET last night, but didn't get a chance to finish it. Definitely tonight, however, because it was fascinating in such a bizzare way -- real life intruding upon fiction intruding upon real life. I'm left wondering how, exactly, the real people who become tangentially involved in this show are treating it -- as a momentary diversion, or, as with Howard Dean this week, as an opportunity to get some real work/prep done? When exactly did they shoot the debate prep scene, before or after the debate? Don't the politicians have better things to do than to play in front of the cameras, or is this the new campaign and we're just not realizing it?

Interesting stuff. I hope the show is as good as the questions it's posing...

posted by Gus at 12:58 PM | |