Wesley Clark talks with CNN's Wolf Blitzer...
cnn.com
8/17/03
BLITZER: Welcome back to LATE EDITION. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.
The last U.S. general to be elected president of the United States was Dwight Eisenhower, and that 50 years ago. In 2004, voters may have another retired general as a candidate. The former NATO supreme commander, Wesley Clark, is considering, considering a White House run.
He joins us now live from Little Rock, Arkansas.
General Clark, welcome back to LATE EDITION. Thanks very much for joining us.
Are you running for president?
GEN. WESLEY CLARK (RET.), FORMER ALLIED SUPREME NATO COMMANDER: I have not made a decision yet, but I am coming to closure on the matter, Wolf.
BLITZER: When will you make that final decision?
CLARK: Sometime in the next two or three weeks, I'll continue to move toward closure.
BLITZER: What are the factors?
CLARK: I really haven't speculated on that. This is a very tough call for someone who hasn't been climbing the political ladder. I've been in public service my whole life, but it's been in the military. And this is -- you're dealing with new language, new groups, new issues, new ways of thinking about how to do this.
It's not so much the problems of government, but it's the problems of the organization and the mindset it takes to move ahead in a political elective process.
BLITZER: The Wall Street Journal quotes Senator Hillary Clinton from New York State as having told one of the Draft Wesley Clark volunteers that perhaps your wife of many years is a reluctant political warrior, reluctant to see you step into that political fray. Is that true?
CLARK: Well, what wife isn't reluctant to see her husband and her family exposed to that. I think that's a universal condition, as I've talked to so many people in political life now since I got out of the military. The wives all say that, whatever they may say publicly.
But we've been in public service our entire marriage, and I'm confident my family will support whatever the ultimate decision is, and they'll do it very, very well.
BLITZER: Some of your fans out there, and there are plenty of them apparently, are not waiting for you to make that formal announcement. They have a Draft Wesley Clark movement under way. They're already starting to run some ads. Let's show our viewers some of them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Unafraid to speak his mind. Unwilling to put politics ahead of duty. He has never failed to answer our country's call. Now we call on him one more time to preserve, protect and defend our nation and all for which it stands. Draft Wesley Clark for president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: You're not telling them to stop running those ads, are you?
CLARK: I haven't, Wolf. I've thought about that. I thought about it a lot when this movement got started, but I -- because I had not made a decision and I have nothing to do with this movement.
But I do say this about it. This is an authentic expression of political feeling, and I think people should do that. They should be encouraged, they certainly shouldn't be discouraged from doing that in a democracy. I mean, that's what democracy is all about.
So regardless of whatever decision I come to, I applaud their effort. I think they've really caught fire and really have done something very, very important.
BLITZER: Let's show our viewers some of what they've done. We'll put it up on the screen. They've raised apparently $600,000 so far. They have eight full-time staff members. They're running these television commercials in New Hampshire, Iowa and Arkansas. That's your home state. They've got members. They've got committees all over the place.
And you, yourself, are certainly sounding and acting a little bit like a candidate. You recently went up to New Hampshire. Have you been to Iowa lately?
CLARK: I haven't been to Iowa since I got an honorary degree there in 2002, Wolf.
But I'm concerned about the issues, more concerned about the issues than the process. And I think this country right now is -- we're at a turning point in where we are. We're at a turning point both in our foreign policy and in our policies at home. And to me, that's the real motivation, and it's why I've been speaking out.
BLITZER: Some of the political pundits out there are suggesting that it's a little late to start running for president right now, with Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, they're coming up early in the new year.
Look at all the money that has been raised so far. You've raised obviously very little yourself, if any, money. Look at this. George W. Bush, without any challenger, he's already raised $34 million only in the second quarter. John Kerry, Dick Gephardt, Howard Dean, Joe Lieberman, John Edwards, they've raised millions and millions of dollars.
Is it too late to start raising money to be competitive in those early states?
CLARK: Wolf, I don't know if it's too late or not, but I do know this, that when people get up and speak the truth and they speak their mind and they talk about the issues that are of concern to ordinary Americans, that I can't believe that, should I do this, that the money is the issue.
That's not the issue. The issue really is the issues. It's what the -- what does America stand for? How do we want to behave in the world? What does it take to fulfill America's dreams at home?
BLITZER: In our CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll that was released early this month, we'll show you what registered Democrats are saying right now. Right now, Joe Lieberman with 18 percent; Howard Dean, 15 percent; Gephardt, 15 percent; John Kerry, 12 percent; everybody else down into single -- way low single digits.
What do these nine candidates not bring to the table that you might bring? What are they -- where are the Democrats missing that would require you to run?
CLARK: Wolf, I think the American people are looking for, first of all, hands-on leadership experience. They are looking for a proven track record in leadership.
And I think, secondly, they are looking for, and especially people in the Democratic Party, are looking for the articulation of what the Democratic Party means, what it can represent for America.
And as I've gone around the country, again and again, I find just an enormous hunger for leadership. And I think the draft movement is evidence that, to some extent, there is still that hunger out there, despite the number of candidates in the race and despite the president's polling.
I'm getting a lot of letters from Republicans and people who say that they wish they hadn't voted the way they had in 2000. They want an opportunity to do it a different way in 2004.
BLITZER: And those Democrats, those nine other Democrats, don't have the leadership that you would bring to the table?
CLARK: I think the other people in this race are great people. Every person is different. I think that's really a question for the American people to answer, not for me.
BLITZER: What about George W. Bush? How vulnerable is he to defeat next year?
CLARK: Well, I guess the conventional answer is, people would look at polls. But what I look at are the realities. And I think the American people will begin to see the reality.
Number one, Iraq is not -- if it is the centerpiece of the war on terror, it shouldn't be. We went into Iraq under false pretenses. There was, you call it deceptive advertising, you'd be taking him to the Better Business Bureau if you bought a washing machine the way we went into the war in Iraq.
We're there now. We're totally committed to this. We have got more than half the deployable strength of the U.S. Army there. We're taking casualties.
We haven't made America safer by this. We've made America more engaged, more vulnerable, more committed, less able to respond. We've loss a tremendous amount of goodwill around the world by our actions and our continuing refusal to bring in international institutions.
At home, we've got a jobless recovery. We've lost 2.6 million jobs since this administration took office. Just to maintain the same level of employment in America, we have to create about 1.3 million jobs a year, and instead we've lost 2.3 million.
So, the statistical unemployment rate, it doesn't really address what the problem is that Americans are feeling out there. There are millions of people who aren't in the labor force. There are other people who are employed, but they're underemployed in terms of their skills. We've got problems.
BLITZER: General, I want you to listen, during the war, when you were still working for CNN -- and just want to alert our viewers, you're no longer working for CNN as our military analyst.
CLARK: Right.
BLITZER: But during the war, early in April, Tom DeLay, the majority leader in the House, really hammered you directly. I want you to listen to what he told our Judy Woodruff then.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. TOM DELAY (R-TX), MAJORITY LEADER: Frankly, what irritates me the most are these blow-dried Napoleons that come on television and, in some cases, have their own agendas.
General Clark is one of them that is running for president, yet he's paid to be an expert on your network. And he's questioning the plan and raising doubts as he becomes this expert.
I think they would serve the nation better if they would just comment on what they see and what they know, rather than putting their own agenda forward as an expert.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Well, pretty strong words from Tom DeLay going after you. What do you say to that criticism?
CLARK: Well, first of all, I'd be happy to compare my hair with Tom DeLay's. We'll see who's got the blow-dried hair.
But beyond that, Wolf, he's got it exactly backward. It's upside down. I am saying what I believe. And I'm being drawn into the political process because of what I believe and what I've said about it.
So it's precisely the opposite of a man like Tom DeLay, who is only motivated by politics and says whatever he needs to say to get the political purpose. And so, you know, it couldn't be more diametrically opposed, and I couldn't be more opposed than I am to Tom DeLay.
You know, Wolf, when our airmen were flying over Kosovo, Tom DeLay led the House Republicans to vote not to support their activities, when American troops were in combat. To me, that's a real indicator of a man who is motivated not by patriotism or support for the troops, but for partisan political purposes.
BLITZER: Well, he was hammering you, and you're hammering right back.
General Clark, good luck to you. Thanks very much for joining us.
CLARK: Thanks, Wolf.
BLITZER: We'll be standing by for your announcement in the next two or three weeks. |
