He's dancing already, Rascal.
At one point in the interview, Clark endorsed a moratorium on the death penalty, saying there has been ''a lot of discrimination and a lot of injustice'' and saying cases should be reviewed with DNA evidence. Asked if he would back a halt to executions, Clark sat up straight.
''Stop. Stop,'' he said. ``I promised I wasn't going to take a strong position.''
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Posted on Fri, Sep. 19, 2003
CAMPAIGN 2004
Presidential candidate Clark's first stop is in Broward deli
The retired general says he wants to 'listen to people' before taking stands on issues such as the Cuba trade embargo.
BY PETER WALLSTEN AND ERIKA BOLSTAD
pwallsten@herald.com
On his first full day as a candidate for president, retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark was greeted like a hero in one of the most Democratic settings in the nation: a Broward County deli crammed full of activists yearning for a viable challenger to President Bush next year.
But the political newcomer who only recently decided he was a Democrat and who enters the race with a blank ideological slate made it clear he wants to keep that slate blank, at least for a while.
He offered a stump speech devoid of detail, and then in an interview late Thursday with The Herald -- one of his first since entering the race -- studiously tried to avoid being pinned down on any specifics.
He explained that he just wants to ''listen to people'' before saying where he stands on topics such as the trade embargo with Cuba, the economy and immigration policies.
''It's not like the election's tomorrow,'' he said.
But his positions began to emerge anyway -- painting a portrait of a Southerner who, despite the military record, holds some views that are decidedly liberal. And his comments exposed a tension between the general accustomed to speaking his mind and the rookie on the campaign trail uneasy with the idea that his words will be studied and, inevitably, used against him.
At one point in the interview, Clark endorsed a moratorium on the death penalty, saying there has been ''a lot of discrimination and a lot of injustice'' and saying cases should be reviewed with DNA evidence. Asked if he would back a halt to executions, Clark sat up straight.
''Stop. Stop,'' he said. ``I promised I wasn't going to take a strong position.''
ON TRADE EMBARGO
On the trade embargo with Cuba, an issue critical to hundreds of thousands of Cuban-American voters who could play a decisive role in the election next year, Clark said he understood both positions and said ``there are a lot of complexities there.''
But the former chief of the U.S. Southern Command, who oversaw military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, said he is inclined to favor engagement as a means to democratization.
''If you look at the way we operated in Eastern Europe, we were effective in taking down communism because there was no embargo,'' he said. ``The Iron Curtain was something they built, not something we imposed.
''The best way to remove those regimes was the way that we did it,'' continued Clark, who led NATO forces as supreme Allied commander during the liberation of Kosovo. ``We brought Western companies in, we worked with their governments. Bit by bit those people realized they didn't have a system that worked and that they wanted a democracy like everyone else in Europe.''
Clark's comments contrast sharply with those in recent weeks from two of his most formidable rivals for the nomination, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, who have shifted their previous support for easing sanctions and now back the embargo.
Informed that his position may anger Cuban-American exile leaders, who have been courting Democratic candidates out of anger at the Bush administration for a perceived lack of attention on Cuba, Clark said, ``I respect the Cuban-American community.''
ON WAR IN IRAQ
The only issue on which he seemed ready to stand firm was his opposition to the war in Iraq, the event that partially spurred his candidacy and has fueled Dean's remarkable rise.
Dean's opposition to the war has helped him raise millions online as he touts his ability to lure newcomers to political activism -- a tactic Clark is beginning to use.
In his speech Thursday, Clark ratcheted up his language on the war, homing in on the Bush administration's efforts to link 9-11 to Saddam Hussein and raising questions about Bush's honesty.
''Mr. President, tell us the truth,'' Clark boomed into a crackling microphone.
Thursday marked Clark's first official campaign rally as one of the 10 Democrats seeking to challenge Bush.
He entered the race after a sophisticated ''Draft Clark'' effort that is now being swallowed into the official campaign. Clark called his candidacy an ''obligation'' and said he had been flooded with requests to run -- including from New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former first lady who has been rumored as a potential late-entering contender herself.
Though he lacks a full-fledged campaign staff and must raise millions in a hurry to have any hope of competing in key early primary states such as Iowa and New Hampshire, Clark seemed a natural.
Some who endured the heat and close quarters created by the throng that greeted Clark on Thursday said they didn't care what his specific views were -- they just liked the idea of a four-star general going toe-to-toe with Bush.
''I told him he's a marvel,'' said Barbara Miller, a Democratic activist from Pompano Beach. ``He can beat the you-know-what out of Bush.''
The decision to visit Florida was a precision political strike by the retired general to shore up his party bona fides at ground zero of the 2000 election recount.
He said he voted for Al Gore in 2000, and twice for Bill Clinton -- a fellow Arkansan. But he backed Ronald Reagan, a Republican, in the 1980s, calling his ''morning in America'' theme ``inspirational.''
Clark was welcomed by the chairmen of the Miami-Dade and Broward Democratic parties, Ray Zeller and Mitch Ceasar, respectively, both of whom escorted the general through the throngs jammed between tables and chairs in the deli. Some Broward legislators showed up, too, including Rep. Ken Gottlieb and Sen. Walter ''Skip'' Campbell, both of whom said they were intrigued with Clark, despite the allegiance of many Florida pols to Sen. Bob Graham.
''Bob's a nice guy, but he's just not catching on,'' Campbell said. ``Clark, now he can really excite people.''
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© 2003 The Miami Herald and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
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