Retired Gen. Wesley Clark Moves Closer to Candidacy
By Dan Balz - Washington Post
Saw this show, and he looked good. Can he win a primary? TWT
Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, who has been flirting with a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination for months, took another step toward a candidacy yesterday. Asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" about a run, Clark said, "I'm going to have to consider it."
Clark is the subject of radio ads being broadcast in New Hampshire by a group trying to draft him for the race. He has been meeting with potential donors and others throughout the year. Clark, who clashed with his Pentagon superiors during the 1998-99 war in Kosovo, is untested as a politician, but some Democrats see him as an attractive candidate in the post-Sept. 11, 2001, environment because of his military experience.
He declined to set a timetable for making a decision and reiterated that he still has not joined a political party. But throughout the interview on NBC, he leveled a series of criticisms at President Bush.
On the issue of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Clark said there was "a certain amount of hype" in the intelligence presented to the public before the war. Asked whether Bush had misled the country, he replied, "I think that's to be determined." He added, "It was never revealed what the imminence of the threat was."
Clark also said he would have opposed Bush's tax cuts. He said "they were not efficient" in stimulating the economy and were "not fair" because they were tilted toward the wealthiest Americans.
He said yesterday that he is looking for a way to serve the country after a career in the military. "It's very hard not to think in terms of the welfare of the country, and when you see the country in trouble, in challenge, yes, you'd like to pitch in and help," he said. |
