Wesley Clark

Something struck me as oddly familiar about Wesley Clark's attack on John McCain's military service. Then I remembered that Clark has a history of doing this before. Running against John Kerry for the Democratic nomination in 2004, Clark said he was the better qualified because while Kerry had been a lieutenant, Clark had swapped hats with Ratko Mladic as a general:

General Clark could not resist taking a few jabs at Mr. Kerry, however. During an appearance on CNN's "Larry King Live" as the Iowa results rolled in, former Senator Bob Dole said to General Clark that he thought the success of Mr. Kerry, also a decorated Vietnam War veteran, might have turned the general into a colonel.

"Well I don't agree," General Clark said. "Senator, with all due respect, he's a lieutenant and I'm a general. You've got to get your facts right."

Asked later about the exchange, General Clark acknowledged Senator Kerry's military background. But, he added: "Nobody in the race has got the kind of background I've got. I've negotiated peace agreements. I've led a major alliance in war. It's one thing to be a hero as a junior officer. He's done that and I respect him for that. He's been a good senator. But I've had the military leadership at the top as well as at the bottom."

Back then, this came off as pure rankism. It takes on a different dimension when you're comparing your experience running wars by remote control from Belgium to someone who tortured for five and a half years.

Put aside for the moment the Wesley Clark's attack on Sen. John McCain's war record. I can't imagine the Obama campaign feeling good about his performance on Face the Nation. One of his talking points was Obama has superior judgment. Clark mentioned that at least four times. Does that judgment include befriending convicted felon and fixer Tony Rezko, working with domestic terrorist William Ayers, and the 17-year relationship with the radical Trinity Church? How superior is Obama's judgment when he voted against a bill that would have protected infants that survived abortions?

Obama's "superior judgment" rests on being against the Iraq War from the start. Ok, but that's not the problem facing the next President. What to do with Iraq is. Obama says he'll pull out all troops within 16 months while his former adviser Samantha Power (who might be part of an Obama administration) has said that's a "best case scenario." Voters should know which path a President Obama would take.

Clark also mentioned Obama was running on his character. Does that include abandoning his promise to take government campaign funds for the general election? How does political expediency fit into Clark's vision of superior character?

As to Clark's attack on McCain's military record he, like the Left, fail to realize McCain isn't basing his Presidential run on being a POW. When McCain talks about experience he means his years in the Senate working on legislation and talking to foreign leaders. McCain doesn't brag about Vietnam. Compare that to Obama's skinny-tie-thin resume, and it's no wonder Clark had to say "judgment" umpteen times. Matt Lewis is right if Clark doesn't think McCain is qualified to be commander-in-chief what does that say about Obama?

Then there's Clark's past statements on how valuable military service is to a Presidential candidate. In 2004 that was Sen. John Kerry.

Alan Stewart Carl rips this line of attack:

First of all, only the most cynically opportunistic of people would blame McCain for anything the Vietcong forced him to do during torturous captivity. Secondly, I would argue McCain’s time as a prisoner of war sure as hell matters as it shows a level of resolve and ability to survive under intense pressure. I know Harvard Law is pretty difficult too, but, come on…

I won't argue that McCain's military career is off-limits--sort of like Obama claims no one can criticize his wife. There may be something in McCain's past that can tell us something about who he really is. Sort of like Kerry's claim to have been in Cambodia during Christmas of 1968. But minimizing the courage of enduring all those years in the Hanoi Hilton won't play with voters.

[Cross-posted to The American Mind.]

In light of the furor over Gen. Wesley Clark arguing that "getting shot down is [not] a qualification to be president" (true, I suppose, but nobody is arguing that it is, in itself, the qualification) and that John McCain is "untested and untried" (um...good luck with that line of attack, guys) - and following up on Bill Beutler's post about the Left doing a 180 on the merits of attacking a candidate's military service, let me point out what Gen. Wesley Clark was saying about the importance of a candidate's military service just four years ago....

John Kerry has heard the thump of enemy mortars. He's seen the flash of the tracers. He's lived the values of service and sacrifice. In the Navy, as a prosecutor, as a senator, he proved his physical courage under fire. And he's proved his moral courage too.

John Kerry fought a war, and I respect him for that. And he came home to fight a peace. And I respect him for that, too.

John Kerry's combination of physical courage and moral values is my definition of what we need as Americans in our commander in chief. [...]

John Kerry is a man who in time of war can lead us as a warrior [...]

He has the moral courage born in battle...

Funny, Wes Clark seemed to think military service was an important qualification for a US Senator without executive experience 4 years ago.