{"id":390,"date":"2003-06-20T14:56:33","date_gmt":"2003-06-20T18:56:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/longestnow\/2003\/06\/20\/drafting-clark-for-prez\/"},"modified":"2003-06-20T14:56:33","modified_gmt":"2003-06-20T18:56:33","slug":"drafting-clark-for-prez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/longestnow\/2003\/06\/20\/drafting-clark-for-prez\/","title":{"rendered":"Drafting Clark for Prez"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a name='a116'><\/a><\/p>\n<p>(<B>10\/18<\/B>: There is now a separate <A href=\"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/sj\/general\/wesley_clark\">Wesley Clark story<\/A> for future updates)<br \/>\n<P>&nbsp; I&#8217;m&nbsp;not particularly curious about most of the <STRONG>presidential candidates<\/STRONG> out there.&nbsp; Their motives are clear; their platforms and supporters and reasons for running, straightforward (and mostly uninteresting).&nbsp; I respect <STRONG><A href=\"http:\/\/www.deanforamerica.com\/\">Dean<\/A><\/STRONG>; it&#8217;s natural for him to have&nbsp;a groundswell of support considering his great success in an explosively grass-roots state and his supporters&#8217; <A href=\"http:\/\/dean2004.blogspot.com\/\">avid<\/A> <A href=\"http:\/\/www.blogforamerica.com\/\">blogging<\/A>; I want him to succeed.&nbsp; But I&#8217;m not (yet) <STRONG>curious<\/STRONG> about him or his candidacy.&nbsp;&nbsp;<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <A href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wesley_Clark\">General Wesley <STRONG>Clark<\/STRONG><\/A> makes me <EM>very<\/EM> curious.<\/P><br \/>\n<P align=\"center\"><FONT size=\"5\">Current sites<\/FONT><\/P><br \/>\n<UL><br \/>\n<LI><A href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wesley_Clark\">Wikipedia entry<\/A><br \/>\n<LI>Detailed Clark <STRONG>fan-site<\/STRONG>: <A href=\"http:\/\/wesleyclark.h1.ru\/\">wesleyclark.h1.ru<\/A><br \/>\n<LI>Clark-support <STRONG>blog<\/STRONG>:&nbsp; <A href=\"http:\/\/www.draftclark.com\/\"><STRONG>DraftClark<\/STRONG><\/A> <FONT size=\"1\">[run by <STRONG>Kos<\/STRONG> and Stirling Newberry]<\/FONT><br \/>\n<LI>Original &#8216;draft Clark&#8217; sites: <A href=\"http:\/\/www.draftwesleyclark.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">draftwesleyclark<\/A>&nbsp;<FONT size=\"1\">[run through Net-vet and K-School grad John Hlinko&#8217;s <EM>Extreme Campaigns<\/EM> since at least early April] <\/FONT><FONT size=\"3\">and daughter sites<\/FONT> <A href=\"http:\/\/www.draftclark2004.com\/\">DraftClark2004<\/A>&nbsp;<FONT size=\"1\">[NH draft effort; Sue Putney, et al]<\/FONT>, &#8230;<br \/>\n<LI>Other Clark info sites:&nbsp; <A href=\"http:\/\/www.wesleyclark.us\/\" target=\"_blank\">WesleyClark.us<\/A>, the <A href=\"http:\/\/wesleyclarkweblog.com\/\">Wesley Clark Blog<\/A>, <A href=\"http:\/\/clarkforpresident.blogspot.com\/\">clarkforpresident.blogspot.com<\/A>, <A href=\"http:\/\/www.theclarksphere.com\/\">The Clark Sphere<\/A>, <A href=\"http:\/\/draftthegeneral.blogspot.com\/\">draftthegeneral.blogspot.com<\/A>, the <A href=\"http:\/\/members.aol.com\/veterans\/warlib5w.htm\">General Clark Resource Guide<\/A>&#8230;<br \/>\n<LI><A href=\"http:\/\/clark2004.meetup.com\/\">Clark2004 <STRONG>Meetup<\/STRONG><\/A> (currently ~3200 members)<br \/>\n<LI><EM>Yahoo<\/EM><STRONG>!<\/STRONG> groups:&nbsp; <A href=\"http:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/wesleyclark2004\"><STRONG>wesleyclark2004<\/STRONG><\/A>, <A href=\"http:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/StudentsforClark\/\">Students<\/A>, <A href=\"http:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/MidwesternersforWesleyClark\/\">Midwesterners<\/A>,<br \/>\n<UL><br \/>\n<LI><A href=\"http:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/CAforClark04\/\">CA<\/A>, <A href=\"http:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/FloridaForClark2004\/\">Florida<\/A>, <A href=\"http:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/DraftClark2004Iowa\/\">Iowa<\/A>, <A href=\"http:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/clark2004Missouri\/\">Missouri<\/A>, <A href=\"http:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/NH4Clark2004\/\">NH<\/A>, <A href=\"http:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/NYforWesleyClark_04\/\">NY<\/A>, <A href=\"http:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/WesleyClarkOhio\">Ohio<\/A>, <A href=\"http:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/WesleyClark2004UT\/\">UT<\/A>,&nbsp;&nbsp;&#8230;&nbsp; <\/LI><\/UL><br \/>\n<LI><br \/>\n<P>Other fan sites:&nbsp; <A href=\"http:\/\/www.women4clark.com\/\">Women4Clark<\/A>, <A href=\"http:\/\/www.veteransforclark2004.us\/\">VeteransforClark<\/A>, &#8230;<\/P><\/LI><\/UL><br \/>\n<P style=\"MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px\" align=\"center\"><FONT size=\"5\">Recent Political History<\/FONT><\/P><br \/>\n<P>Clark has certainly had politics on his mind since retiring from the military, and probably long before.&nbsp; He was a White House aide for a time in the &#8217;70s, after his initial time in the Army.&nbsp; Last year he was asked by both parties about considering a run for Senate in Arkansas, and said (Feb 2002) he was considering it&#8230;&nbsp; I remember a friend suggesting him for president months ago, before fighting started in Iraq; I didn&#8217;t realize (nor did the friend) that Clark had been&nbsp;subtlely broadcasting his presidential suitability&nbsp;for a long while.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; He was certainly <STRONG>considering<\/STRONG>&nbsp;a run in a national campaign last fall, when he started&nbsp;writing political columns (for the London Times, as early as last August) criticizing the administration&#8217;s foreign policy, <A href=\"http:\/\/www.upi.com\/view.cfm?StoryID=20030316-114835-7718r\">meeting<\/A> with DNC&nbsp;bigwigs and <A href=\"http:\/\/www.politicsnh.com\/archives\/pindell\/october2002\/10_14_02.shtml\">touring&nbsp;the Granite State<\/A>,&nbsp;endorsing <A title=\"Democratic candidate for NH state congress in 2003; she lost to incumbent Bass all the same\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nhptv.org\/kn\/election\/swett.htm\">Katrina Swett<\/A> before the midterm elections.&nbsp;&nbsp;Manchester Dem chairman Raymond Buckley put it well, after a dinner party with Clark:&nbsp;&#8220;<EM>I&#x2019;d say he is running, but I don&#x2019;t know if he is running in 2004 or 2008 or beyond. I first met Clinton in 1979<A href=\"http:\/\/www.politicsnh.com\/archives\/pindell\/october2002\/10_14_02.shtml\">.<\/A><\/EM>&#8221;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/P><br \/>\n<P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Clark took a big step in&nbsp;<STRONG>February<\/STRONG>, leaving his two-year post as investor at Stephens, Inc.&nbsp; His decision to float a <STRONG>shadow campaign<\/STRONG> and become a serious political force in the coming election was made by then, as he moved to write&nbsp;political articles, promote his book [as he had done throughout his tenure at Stephens], and hit the lecture circuit full-time.&nbsp; See for instance his widely-quoted <A href=\"http:\/\/www.timesonline.co.uk\/section\/0,,6003,00.html\">War Diary<\/A> for the London Times (note his bio there explicitly states he is considering running against Bush in the coming election).<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Clark&nbsp;was&nbsp;<STRONG>pulling out the stops<\/STRONG> by late <STRONG>April<\/STRONG> &#8212; consider his <A href=\"http:\/\/www.wavecrestlabs.com\/aboutus\/bio_wesley.html\">bio<\/A> at <A href=\"http:\/\/www.wavecrestlabs.com\/index.html\">WaveCrest Labs<\/A>, where he was suddenly <A href=\"http:\/\/www.wavecrestlabs.com\/news\/pr042103.html\">named Chairman of the Board<\/A> on April 21:&nbsp;a great bio for a&nbsp;pres. candidate, but&nbsp;<EM>irrelevant<\/EM> to the company after the first sentence.&nbsp;&nbsp;They don&#8217;t mention his recent investment work in emerging technology, or his relevant board positions elsewhere &#8212; they don&#8217;t mention his&nbsp;investment work at all.&nbsp; Contrast this with the other&nbsp;management-team bios, or to Clark&#8217;s carefully-targeted bios&nbsp;for <A href=\"http:\/\/www.stephens.com\/about\/clark_bio.asp\">Stephens, Inc.<\/A> and <A href=\"http:\/\/www.nato.int\/cv\/saceur\/clark.htm\">NATO<\/A>.<\/P><br \/>\n<P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Yet he&#8217;s been giving non-monotonic mixed signals &#8212; despite such clear &#8220;maybes&#8221; as his London Times bio, last week Wired wrote that he was still insisting he <A href=\"http:\/\/www.wired.com\/news\/politics\/0,1283,59218,00.html\">wasn&#8217;t running<\/A> (a fine way to fire up support, as Hillary would be quick to agree;&nbsp;everyone needs to go watch <STRONG><EM>Primary Colors<\/EM><\/STRONG> again).<\/P><br \/>\n<P align=\"center\"><FONT size=\"5\">Questions<\/FONT><\/P><br \/>\n<P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; When did <STRONG>Hlinko <\/STRONG>start promoting Clark?&nbsp; Surely before April 9,&nbsp;when he launched&nbsp;<A href=\"http:\/\/www.draftwesleyclark.com\/\">draftwesleyclark<\/A>, migrating it from&nbsp;its <A href=\"http:\/\/extremecampaigns.com\/draftwesley\/news.htm\">parent site<\/A>.&nbsp; Did the Mar 16 <A href=\"http:\/\/www.upi.com\/view.cfm?StoryID=20030316-114835-7718r\">UPI report<\/A> coin it&#8217;s title phrase &#8220;<EM>Draft Wesley Clark<\/EM>&#8220;?&nbsp; Maybe someone should ask author <STRONG>Cliff Shechter<\/STRONG>.&nbsp; How long ago did an official Clark sub-campaign&nbsp;start up?&nbsp; How much of it was due to encouragement by the <STRONG>Clintons<\/STRONG>?&nbsp; How large is his staff now?&nbsp; And how often&nbsp;does an Arkansas Rhodes Scholar consider running for president?&nbsp; Oh, right.<\/P><br \/>\n<P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; For <EM>negative<\/EM> opinions of General Clark, and <STRONG>questions <\/STRONG>about his record, look elsewhere &#8212; cf. zealous reports of <A href=\"http:\/\/www.apfn.org\/apfn\/clark.htm\">Clark&#8217;s association with Waco<\/A>, or writing by David Hackworth, online.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; For&nbsp;<EM>older<\/EM> opinions of him, try searching for&nbsp;SACEUR and Clark; it&#8217;s hard to find extended opinions of him from before 1997.&nbsp; Here&#8217;s&nbsp;a&nbsp;1998 <STRONG>salute <\/STRONG>to him <A href=\"http:\/\/www.stuttgart.army.mil\/community\/Citizen\/2000\/0523\/clark.htm\">from Stuttgart<\/A> with a historical angle.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; For <EM>foreign<\/EM> opinions of him, well he has his Honorary Knighthood, and national awards from a double-handful of&nbsp;european countries.&nbsp; I don&#8217;t know what that means to current citizenry or administrations, however. <\/P><br \/>\n<P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Privately, I&#8217;m curious about the <STRONG>hasty<\/STRONG> WaveCrest Chairman-appointment <FONT size=\"1\">[I&#8217;m guessing <STRONG><A href=\"http:\/\/www.wavecrestlabs.com\/aboutus\/bio_boris.html\">Maslov<\/A><\/STRONG>, a founder, VP, and former VA-area investment analyst, was the link]<\/FONT>; about the amateur quality of his official online presence; about whether Clark&#8217;s PR folks (part of someone else&#8217;s larger PR team?) or Hlinko moved first; about the General&#8217;s previous political history and <STRONG>connections <\/STRONG>within our government (might as well start with the Clinton administration) and military leadership, particularly leading up to his time as SACEUR; about what he privately cares for.<\/P><br \/>\n<P align=\"center\"><FONT size=\"5\">Other references<\/FONT><\/P><br \/>\n<P><FONT size=\"4\">Books of recent note<\/FONT>:&nbsp; <STRONG><\/STRONG><\/P><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<P><STRONG>General Clark<\/STRONG>&#8216;s <U><A href=\"http:\/\/www.argospress.com\/jbt\/Volume5\/5-1-7.htm\">Waging Modern War<\/A><\/U>,<STRONG><BR>Ambassador Holbrooke<\/STRONG>&#8216;s <U><A href=\"http:\/\/www.hrw.org\/community\/bookreviews\/holbrooke.htm\">To End a War<\/A><\/U>&nbsp;<FONT size=\"1\"><STRONG>(Largely&nbsp;about the Dayton Peace Accords, for which&nbsp;Gen. Clark was the chief military negotiator.&nbsp; <\/STRONG><A href=\"http:\/\/63.147.65.175\/books\/chap134.htm\"><STRONG>Chapter I<\/STRONG><\/A> has an amazing anecdote involving the Ambassador and the General.<STRONG>)<\/STRONG><\/FONT>, <STRONG><BR>David Halberstam<\/STRONG>&#8216;s <U>War In A Time Of Peace<\/U><\/P><\/BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<P><FONT size=\"4\">Speeches and Interviews online:<\/FONT> <\/P><br \/>\n<BLOCKQUOTE><br \/>\n<P><STRONG>video <\/STRONG>from <A href=\"http:\/\/www.c-span.org\/clinton\/page2.asp?Code=UAR&amp;ShowVidNum=6&amp;Rot_Cat_CD=UAR&amp;Rot_HT=&amp;Rot_WD\">U.Arkansas<\/A>&nbsp;[4\/17],&nbsp;<BR><STRONG>transcripts <\/STRONG>from the <A href=\"http:\/\/www.cfr.org\/publication.php?id=5632\">Council on Foreign Relations<\/A>, the <A href=\"http:\/\/draftthegeneral.blogspot.com\/\">Carnegie Council<\/A>&nbsp;on Ethics and International Affairs [6\/5], testifying before Congress about <A href=\"http:\/\/www.expandnato.org\/clarknato3.html\">expanding NATO<\/A>[4\/8]&#8230;<BR><STRONG>interviews<\/STRONG> with <A href=\"http:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/news\/927000.asp\">Meet the Press<\/A> [6\/15], <A href=\"http:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/news\/928183.asp\">Buchanan and Press<\/A> [6\/18], &#8230;<\/P><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(10\/18: There is now a separate Wesley Clark story for future updates) &nbsp; I&#8217;m&nbsp;not particularly curious about most of the presidential candidates out there.&nbsp; Their motives are clear; their platforms and supporters and reasons for running, straightforward (and mostly uninteresting).&nbsp; I respect Dean; it&#8217;s natural for him to have&nbsp;a groundswell of support considering his great [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[209],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-popular-demand"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/longestnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/longestnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/longestnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/longestnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/135"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/longestnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/longestnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/longestnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/longestnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/longestnow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}