Monday, May 12, 2008
Wes Clark talks about cleaning up the mess in Iraq and says Democrats better start convincing Americans that they can keep our country safe.
Jun 20, 2005 | Wes Clark all but admits that he wasn't ready when he was drafted to run for president in 2004. Anyone who saw Clark only at the end of his campaign would have found it hard to imagine what he was like when it started. At the Democratic National Convention in Boston, where John Kerry received the nomination, Clark lit up a roomful of veterans with an incendiary speech on what it means to be both a Democrat and a patriot. "That flag is our flag," Clark said as applause swelled up and eyes grew teary. "We served under that flag. We got up and stood reveille formation, we stood taps, we fought under that flag. We've seen men die for that flag, and we've seen men buried under that flag. No Dick Cheney or John Ashcroft or Tom DeLay is going to take that flag away from us."
But roll back the tape to 10 months before that, and Clark looked like a different guy. The Vietnam war hero, the former supreme allied commander of NATO, the man who'd calmly explained each step in the Iraq war night after night after night on CNN -- that man was so flummoxed by the simple and entirely predictable question of whether he would have voted for the resolution that authorized George W. Bush to use military force in Iraq that he ended up flip-flopping on his position and begging for help from a press aide.
When Salon spoke with Clark by telephone last week, he wouldn't say whether he'll run again in 2008, but he said he'll be ready this time if he does.
He has a Web site and a political action committee and consultants and booking people and a seemingly endless schedule of things that look an awful lot like campaign appearances. He says he'll be "formulating and speaking and acting" until the time comes to make a decision about his presidential plans.
But for all that, Clark says that the success of any Democrat in 2008 will depend as much on the Democratic Party as on the candidate it runs. The party has "deep construction" to do before Americans will trust Democrats to keep them safe, Clark says, and the time to begin that work is now.
"It can't be done in the heat of a political campaign," Clark says, "and it's not about a candidate. It's really about a party, and I think it requires an array of voices over a sustained period of time whose views can be assessed and measured against events."
The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll shows that for the first time since before 9/11, Americans trust Democrats more than Republicans in coping with the main problems the nation will face over the next few years. To the extent that national security and terrorism are part of that answer, is this an important turning point for the Democratic Party?
I think it's an important yardstick, but I'd beware of "turning points."
We know what public opinion polls do and don't do. What we're talking about is needing to establish a full-service Democratic Party that is able to take care of healthcare, education, employment issues, retirement issues, diversity issues -- we've always been trusted on that -- but that can also set a long-term vision for America and guide our foreign relations, our security policies, and keep us safe. One opinion poll is welcome, but we know we've got a lot of deep construction to do.
You tried to do some of that in the 2004 race. After your own campaign ended, you campaigned hard on behalf of Kerry, trying to add to his credibility on national security issues. Why didn't that message take then?
Because we were going against an accumulation of 30 years of statements by others. First of all, I wasn't the candidate, so that automatically reduced the amount of impact. And as you know from the campaign, a lot of effort was made to distort Kerry's message, which I thought was very clear and should have been very reassuring to Americans. But campaigns are adversarial, so there were competing voices out there. [The deep construction] can't be done during the heat of a campaign. This is the time for the Democratic Party to have a strong and correct voice, prescribing a strategy for America and pointing the way ahead -- and being held accountable for it.
Should that voice come in the context of Iraq, or in some larger context?
Both. It's not possible to avoid discussions of Iraq, but I also think you've got to look beyond Iraq and the Middle East.
What should the Democrats be doing and saying now about Iraq?
First of all, we've got to support the troops that are there, their families at home, the military as an institution that's fighting the war, and our veterans. We have to do that because it's a duty for Americans, and if we're going to be the leading party in America, then we have to lead. There's nothing more important for a government than protecting the safety and security of its people, and that requires a strong and ready armed force. So that's the first thing that Democrats have to do. I think we've done a good job at that, and I think we're getting increasing recognition for that.
It's been Democrats who have supported and proposed measures to make sure every vehicle has the appropriate armor, to make sure every solider has body armor and adequate ammunition and training, to make sure that our veterans and our returning soldiers can be taken care of. Democrats have a long-standing reputation for being more interested in the people than in the weapons systems.
But the right hammered Kerry in 2004 for not "supporting the troops." Is the trick to avoiding that next time by building this four-year message you're describing?
You've got to have a consistent message. I wouldn't put a set term on it -- if you had an eight-year or 12-year or 28-year term, that would be even better. What's behind all of this is the legacy of Vietnam, the frustration of veterans. People have gravitated to the other party based on a recollection of angry voices and rallies that condemned the troops when all the troops were doing was supporting a policy that a democratically elected government had put in place.
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