|
Richard Cohen's Nightmare
"Clark's sincerity on this point is patent."
With remarkably bad timing, WaPo publishes yesterday a column by Richard Cohen, praising General Wesley Clark for the "sincerity" with which Clark castigates the president for abusing Clark's army by the War Against Saddam Hussein. Too bad that Clark's London Times article — expressing his hearty, unabashed pride in that same army's War Against Saddam Hussein — came to light the same day.
.... Of all the other Democratic presidential contenders, only John Kerry has the military credentials to challenge Bush. But being a wounded and decorated Vietnam vet is not the same as being both that and a retired four-star general. Anyway, Kerry is easily caricatured as a Massachusetts liberal.
Not so Clark. He is a "duty, honor, country" guy -- the West Point mantra he recites constantly. His themes are patriotism and leadership, and his credentials are unimpeachable. He was wounded in Vietnam. He rose to command NATO and made war in the Balkans. Four invisible stars glitter from his shoulders.
Wes Clark does not like what George Bush has done with Wes Clark's Army. Make no mistake: It's his Army. He can hardly go a sentence without mentioning the military -- and how, in his mind, Bush has abused it. He sent it to war precipitously and then used its men and women as "props," he says. Clark's sincerity on this point is patent. In a conversation on his campaign plane, he suddenly turned intense, a kind of growling, low-grade rage that lifted my nose from my note-taking. His Army has been abused.....
At the fundraiser here, Clark stood before a huge American flag like George C. Scott in "Patton." And when he talked about Bush and the war in Iraq, it was not as some Democrat who could be caricatured as a peacenik, but as a warrior who felt that the president had fought the wrong war at the wrong time -- and then pranced all over a flight deck reserved for Clark's genuine heroes, "the men and women who serve."
Karl Rove, call your office.
Yes, Karl. Call your office. And enjoy a belly laugh with them.
P.S. I have just sent an e-mail to Cohen:
In the light of General Wesley Clark's April 10, 2003, column in the London Times -- from which anybody could honestly conclude that he was absolutely tickled pink with the War Against Saddam Hussein -- I think you should rethink your assessment that "Clark's sincerity on this point is patent." I direct your attention especially to this line: "As for the political leaders themselves, President Bush and Tony Blair should be proud of their resolve in the face of so much doubt."
Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Fri. 01/16/04 07:55:31 AM
Categorized as Media & Political.
|
