Wesley Clark's Future Up For Speculation

As a great admirer of General Wesley Clark imagine my reaction to the news from David Waldman over at Daily Kos about speculation of his possbile candidacy for the seat of recently announced retiree to be Arkansas Democrat Rep. Vic Snyder (AR – 02). Waldham gives an on the ground view that includes the possibilities of the Democratic Lt. Gov. and his plans but not before quoting a Spencer Ackerman piece on the chatter in Democratic circles about this possibility. It is only then that Waldman throws in his two cents on a conclusion I had already made before I even finished reading Ackerman's quote:

Snyder, you'll recall, recently announced his retirement from Congress, with the speculation being that he'd been driven from the race by poor polling.

Great. So now we have Wes Clark thinking about running instead. If that happens, well, thanks a lot, you moron "firebaggers!"

Of course, we don't really know where Clark's head is at right now. And is a House seat really the thing for him? There's already talk about a primary challenge to Blanche Lincoln from someone like Lt. Gov. Bill Halter (granted, we're the ones doing a lot of the talking), but it should also be noted that Halter lives in AR-02, and it's not like it hasn't been said that he's mulling that race instead

What about a little switch 'em up? Keep thing interesting?

Exactly. As I sit here typing this out an old ’04 Clark for President campaign button is staring back down at me from my framed memorabilia collection. General Clark’s stature and national profile as former NATO Supreme Commander and 2004 presidential candidate would be better suited for the United States Senate then a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. My first choice in the 2004 Presidential election in order of preference was former Vice President Al Gore, Gov. Howard Dean, and then Gen. Wesley Clark. Former Senator John Edwards & Senator John Kerry only got my consideration when the first three did not become viable candidates in the primary process. My very fist thought as I read Ackerman’s quote was that Gen. Clark would be a perfect primary challenger for the disappointing Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and her blue dog sensibilities.

Here’s just a quick example of the kind of progressive mind and thinking we need in the U.S. Senate from Clark’s own piece for the September, 2002 edition of the Washington Monthly on post 9/11 policies and the run up to the invasion of Iraq:

"Soon after September 11, without surrendering our right of self defense, we should have helped the United Nations create an International Criminal Tribunal on International Terrorism. We could have taken advantage of the outpourings of shock, grief, and sympathy to forge a legal definition of terrorism and obtain the indictment of Osama bin Laden and the Taliban as war criminals charged with crimes against humanity. Had we done so, I believe we would have had greater legitimacy and won stronger support in the Islamic world. We could have used the increased legitimacy to raise pressure on Saudi Arabia and other Arab states to cut off fully the moral, religious, intellectual, and financial support to terrorism. We could have used such legitimacy to strengthen the international
coalition against Saddam Hussein."

Oh, if only. Let’s hope enough people in the Arkansas state Democratic party can find enough people to convince him to throw his hat in the ring. This is how you effect change in the American political process: from the inside. Not standing around with hand wringing and complaints about how the Democratic party has let us down.