It is so contrived as far as Clarke goes, hehad to be somewhere in the writing of it. Gee, everyone was against it be me. I was the one hero. Puhlease. He's a weasel like the rest.
Clarke is coming off as someone who wanted to fight, but he's also not coming off as one of the heroes - because he's acquiescing to the rest of the idiots.
O'Neill was a hero. Clarke was is an opportunist.