CLARK: AFTER THE SWOON

New York Post ^ | 10/17/03 | DEBORAH ORIN

[kattracks]

October 17, 2003 -- THE super-sizzle may be fizzling on Wes Clark's run for the White House and it could be that the retired general wasn't quite ready for prime time.

Clark began with a "Swoon Strategy" - handsome general gets blessed by Bill Clinton, graciously agrees to run for president as a (gasp!) Democrat and the party swoons in rapture, hailing him as its savior.

[Green Knight]

Perfumed Prince Ping.

[leadhead]

Strategy wasn't enough. Being a general doesn't automatically entitle you to be president.

Neither does coming from Arkansas.

Neither does beimg a Rhodes Scholar.

Neither does being a well documented jerk and incompetent.

Ooops!

Who of the other nine dwarfs isn't?

HeHe

[Fenris6]

Clinton Kiss of Death. Maybe we should fund Clinton to endorse the rest of the dwarves.

Clinton's peeps still don't get it - 1/3 of the country never bought into their propaganda so there's no need for "commitment & consistency", another 1/3 (mostly Independents) don't want to endure the hassle of replacing all the mirrors in their household. The last 1/3 can't "understand" why Clinton is so "misunderstood" and think its grand that Clinton hacks are nannying Clark.

The primaries should be interesting....

[HitmanLV]

I said early on that the shine would get off Clark, and quickly. It's amazing how much momentum could be lost in such a short time.

Its a good thing though, in this case!

[Benrand]

He needs to think of something to match Howwid Dean's job growth plan. He's gonna take 100 biwwion dowwars and cweate one miwwion new jobs to offset Bush's three twillion dowwar iwwesponsible tax cut.

Maybe it's just me, but when Dean talks, I hear ELMER FUDD.

[Timesink]

This is what I've been saying since the day The Weasel announced. His campaign is a disaster of mismanagement, and voters in Iowa and New Hampshire can't stand him!

Mary, help!

[alloysteel]

In spite of an enormous spike in interest the first few days after Weasely Clark first announced his run for the Presidency of the United States, the hype didn't last. Right now Clark is down there with that other great savior, John Edwards.

But what the heck, if Carol Moseley-Braun and Al Sharpton see no need of dropping out, why should Clark? SOMEBODY has to hold place for the regime of the "Former Occupant of the Oval Office, 1993-2001".

Howard Brush Dean III, child of privilege, Birkenstock doc, and beneficiary of some $3.8 million in trust funds, equities and financial instruments, better be careful about flying in small planes.

[Dark Knight]

The shine can't be off Clark yet! I remember the media had him nose to nose with Dubya. He didn't even have to campaign and was getting to 50% of the voters.

OOPS, sorry...I forgot the polls were faked. 50% of the voters can't even name who Clark is, much less peg him as one of those ten guys that want what again?

DK

[FreedomPoster]

Between that episode, and the lack of political savvy it reveals, and the muttering in the background by military peers (typified by Hugh Shelton, but there's plenty of other negative buzz out there from that quarter), this guy would be a liability in a general election. In my mind, he was only there to provide a "tough on national security" aspect to a Hildebeast campaign, as a running mate, and I expect the shine is off of that idea. I expect we'll see him drop out of the pack after the first few primaries.

[Amelia]

The NPR news program "All Things Considered" had a piece on Wesley Clark yesterday afternoon. If anyone is interested in listening, they archive those things on the web, and it was within the first half hour of the show. Go to http://www.npr.org and you can find it.

The first part of the segment was about how bright he was: tops in his class at West Point, Rhodes Scholar, etc.

Then they had some military people suggesting there had been a scandal resulting in Clark being relieved of his NATO command & brought home early, some people saying he was only out for himself & would step on anyone for his own advancement, a guy saying he'd be worried about Clark's ability to handle crises, especially as President, etc.

Probably interesting for Clark-watchers.

[tkathy]

Clinton is still the best thing that ever happened to the Republican Party. May he dabble behind the scenes of the dem party forever.

[samtheman]

Clark's an idiot and the dimowits are showing their dim wits by looking at him as a savior.

[rabidralph]

What about being the son of a senator and living in a DC hotel your entire adolescence?

[binreadin]

Thanks for the post--I thought we'd realized a long time ago that being a scholar didn't necessarily equate with being smart, or being a leader when it came to operating in a real environment, away from the dreamworld of academia. My favorite story was documented on the web a few years ago. The tale was that Larry Ellison of Oracle was giving a commencement speech to an Ivy League university--think it was Yale. At any rate, Larry told the undergraduates to drop out immediately, or any chance for original thought would be lost!

[NYC Republican]

BUMP!

[TADSLOS]

Looks like the stalking horse is running out of fodder. It's time for Hillary to save the party.

[Political Junkie Too]

The biggest value of the Clark campaign is how shallow it proved the support for the other nine Democrats to be. After months of debates amongst the other nine, all support flocked to Clark for the week after his announcement. That had to gall the other candidates. After sobriety set in, the support shifted back to where it came from.

So once again, the Democrats are a cult of personality, not of ideas.

-PJ