Clark steps cautiously on issues

[dArKeR]

“It’s not a conventional campaign,” retired Army General Wesley Clark said in an interview on CNBC’s “Capital Report” Wednesday, as he described his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Clark’s military career and his first-ever run for office make him a most unconventional contender. But more than one month into his candidacy, Clark has set forth mostly conventional proposals that don’t do a lot to differentiate him from the other Democratic hopefuls.

IN HIS CNBC INTERVIEW and in an address in Manchester, N.H., on Wednesday, Clark discussed his economic blueprint which, like those of Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, proposes to rescind income tax cuts for higher-income Americans.
“What we need to do is use the resources that have been given away in the tax cuts to families making over $200,000 a year,” Clark told “Capital Report” co-host Gloria Borger. “We need these resources to create jobs in America.”

http://msnbc.com/news/983826.asp?0cv=CB20

I don't like this guy. He reminds me of a Ken Lay with hair. Talk about a phony!

[childslibrarian]

1. Just get rid of this thread

Its an obvious flame with nothing to discuss...

[drfemoe]

9. Clark guy's mantra

lalalala . I can't hear you .... hey that's already been done.

[Demobrat]

2. I'm trying to keep an open mind

but so far I see nothing there except vote for me because I'm a real soldier and Bush isn't. Problem is I don't care about that.

[w13rd0]

3. In all fairness, his campaign has issued a number of statements and...

...policies that deserve applause. Problem is that this isn't what many of his supporters focus on.

[Toucano]

6. Fairness?

You deserve applause yourself!

:yourock:

[Larkspur]

7. Ditto

His announcement speech was uninspiring and his policy statements are not much different than the Establishment Dems.

Anyway, this election will not be about issues alone. It will be about leadership quality, and Dean has demonstrated on the campaign trail what leadership is. That's why the others, including Clark, are trying to mimic Dean.

While Clark may be good on the military front, he was fired by the Clinton Admin, and that should raise a level of concern about his leadership ability. His presence so far in the campaign hasn't been charismatic, in the way of RFK or even Howard Dean has been. Dean himself may not be charismatic, but he diagnosed the times correctly and developed a strategy to harness the anger and frustration of the Democratic base into a movement for change. Dean's campaign is not about Dean, but about leading this nation back to its moral and ideal center.

Hope has two beautiful daughers, anger and courage; anger at the way things are and the courage to change them. -- St. Augustine

[Tom Rinaldo]

8. Clark and the Clinton Administration

Regarding this comment: "While Clark may be good on the military front, he was fired by the Clinton Admin, and that should raise a level of concern about his leadership ability." Actually it was the Defence Secretary Cohen, the only Republican in the Cabinet, who wanted Clark relieved of NATO command. All reports I have read indicate that Clinton was misinformed as to what went down, and that he was pissed by the way it was handled. Clark pushed for a more robust engagement in Kosovo against the wishs of some in the Pentagon who did not want to be dragged deeper into a Balkins engagement. They did not appreciate that he didn't just shut up about it. I am of the opinion that Clark was right all along in regards to the former Yugoslavia, Bosnia, Serbia, and Kosovo. They were some of the most moral uses of American military power in my lifetime. And it stabalized a deteriorating situation in South East/Central Europe. Clark did just fine leading the Alliance through it's first actual war.

[FrenchieCat]

13. and Clinton ended up giving Clark the Presidential Medal of Freedom

So There.

I found both of clark's speeches very inspiring. I guess it's all in the ear of the listening, wouldn't you say. Ardent Dean fans will only hear the messiah signing, and many probably didn't bother to listen to the speech. Those folks have already been sold!

In this post 9/11 world and in the midts of a war, if anyone things that Dean will become the new President, you've got another thing coming. oh, he may win the nomination........but that's were it will end, unfortunately! But go ahead and worship, as long as it lasts!

[MasonJar]

4. Clark and Bush

Clark should definitely come before Bush in any dictionary. He was a military leader and Bush wasn't. He should rub it in, especially after that million dollar fiasco in the San Diego harbor. When it comes to sincerity, I think he is mountains above the Stump. It is in reports on DU that he is ambitious, but I haven't seen the proof. Maybe he cares just like we do. And finally can you imagine a debate between those two. I'm not saying that Clark is smarter and sharper than Gore (he's my man), but Gore was at a disadvantage. No one was aware at that time that the Bushes played so dirty.

[w13rd0]

5. No one was aware that the Bushes played dirty?

Read unauthorized bio of George HW Bush, or do research on how intimately Bush was connected with the repeated attempts at deep sixing Clintons presidency, or look at heck, the Bush family history...

I can't understand, given just the Republican primary and Rove's background, anyone could think Bush is capable of playing clean...

[burr]

10. This plan is closer to Edwards or Lieberman's approach than Kerry's..

Kerry's economic plan also includes a reduction in the FICA tax, something that only Bob Graham had also supported. So far no other candidate has touched this issue, with the fear that the GOP may seize on this can try to cut it even more..or maybe exempt countless employers from paying their share of the payroll tax.

Regarding Clark stepping cautiously on the issues, American Prospect had a great article which addressed this problem...

"In this political context, Clark may be handicapped less by his Republican dalliances than by his brief, post-Army career as an investment banker -- an occupation in which you can actually make money by shipping the jobs of American riveters and radiologists abroad. To his credit, Clark advocates trade agreements that guarantee worker rights and environmental and labor standards, but that's just the beginning. If Bush goes down, it will be because Americans want a president who will fight as hard for the grunts on the economic battlefield as he does for those in Iraq. That is Clark's, and the Democrats', challenge."

<http://www.prospect.org/print-friendly/webfeatures/2003/10/meyerson-h-10-24.html>

[genius]

12. I'm not voting for Clark

But the one advantage to Clark is that if they steal the election, he might be able to talk the military into helping him take office.

[Punkingal]

11. Bwahahahahaha!

That's cute!

[yelladawg]

14. Is Clark losing his appeal?

Is Clark losing his appeal to people just here on DU or is it really nation wide? There was a huge rally of support here at DU that has seem to eroded away. What happened? I notice at the VFW the other night, it was Kerry who everyone was taking about, not Clark.

[FrenchieCat]

15. Clark is doing just fine......tied with Dean on Newsweek poll...

So that's not too shabby. Clark supporters are busy doing their duty. They have made their defense via facts of the general on the DU site in quite a copious and admirable manner. It's all been bookmarked. We have not faded (and neither will the general, as much as the corporate press keeps hoping he might)....we just have other sites to tend to. We have had to blow all of the "ROVE talking points" out of the water. Actually if you read Mediawhoresonline.com, TNR, Josh Marshall, Gene Lyons, as well as Salon, progressive publications are doing a fine job in promoting Wes Clark where it counts.......in the progressive press. Meanwhile Clark supporters are doing very valuable services like writing letters to the mainstream press who have decided that Dean should be the one anointed....and Clark should be attacked. As a diverse lot, Clark supporters have more than one basket to hang out in. Those undecided will firm up within the next few weeks....those ardent Dean supporters are lapping up the Corporate and Right wing media's current adulation of Dean. Gee, I wonder why that is?

Anyway, does that answer the questions you were wondering about?

[FrenchieCat]

16. Oh, and in addition....

Clark is busy campaigning in New Hampshire.....and a lot of other places.......

See how he listens! Instead of talking all of the time!

and when he talks it's one on one....