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Sorry this took so long to put up but here goes.
OK, first of all, I did find it kind of neat to be hanging out with Wes at Chris Heinz’ place…even if it’s uncool to say that. :)
I really wish I could remember more clearly more of what was said because I really fear misstating or misrepresenting anything that Chris or Gen Clark said, especially when so many here are poised to pounce.
It wasn’t a very big gathering, nice and intimate. Clark worked the crowd a bit before the speeches started and I got a chance to talk to him a bit. We talked about how disheartening the election was and he said he knew but “don’t lose hope.” I couldn’t resist asking him about 2008. He said he hasn’t decided anything, that he was out there speaking out and he had his website up but that we have to focus on 2006 right now and building the party strength now because whoever gets the nomination will need a strong party behind him or her….He did say he really really enjoyed being out on the campaign trail again when he campaigned for John.
Chris spoke first and, I must say, he is a bit of a cutie. :) He gave Wes a nice intro saying how much he enjoyed having him campaign for his stepdad, how moved he was by Wes’ endorsement of his dad and that he really would have liked to have seen Gen Clark as VP, and then added that right now he’d like to see any Dem as VP.
The format was a short talk and then Q&A. It was billed as a Conversation about America’s Role in the World so I think it was meant to focus on national security/foreign policy issues but Wes started out by saying that he felt the biggest national security issue was here at home. He spoke of how important it is that we maintain the two party system in this country. (And by that he didn’t mean that there should be no more than 2 parties but that there needs to be more than one.)
He talked again about Dems defending other Dems and how people won’t believe that Dems will be able to defend the country until they start defending each other. He said our principles are sound but that we need to articulate them in such a way that people can see that we are the ones who really want to do what’s good for the country….we’re not against gun ownership, we’re for what’s good for the country, we’re not against school vouchers, we’re for what’s good for the country. I guess part of it is articulating that we’re FOR something not just AGAINST something and what we want is what’s good for the country.
He came back to the voucher thing a couple of times because folks asked him about it in the Q&A. He said what we really need to do is help the public schools out. We’re not against school choice but the ones who don’t have the resources that allow them to make a choice are the ones that need the educational help the most and they will be the ones who will get left behind if we don’t focus on fixing what’s wrong with the public schools and giving them the resources they need. He spoke of how, when in the military, they pushed and pushed Congressman Jerry Lewis until they finally got a new school built in Ft. Irwin, CA. Also, he mentioned that he’d been asked to be superintendent of school system in CA when he’d gotten out of the military (which I don’t think I knew) and that, though he’d turned it down, he did spend a lot of time learning about the California public school system and then he ticked off about 6 or 7 things that were wrong and needed to be changed.
He talked a number of times about how we need to help every single person in this country to be the best they can be, that we have to work to lift everyone up, that even though we’re not all born equal everyone has to be given equal opportunities to better themselves, that it’s the responsibility and obligation of those who can help to help those who need it. He talked of how Gert used to coach the military folks who came to them who were having trouble paying bills. She’d help them try to find places where they could save, do things differently, whatever, to make things a little easier. He felt that everyone who needed it should have something like this service available to them. He spoke of how appalled he was when he got out of the military to find that there was no one fighting for those who had no power to fight for themselves. He really really believes that our country will only be stronger and better if everyone is as strong and as good as they can be...that we all suffer when the least in our society suffer. I'd heard people talking about how he felt like that but I'd never encountered him articulating it like that before...very powerful stuff. I just wish people who think he's all about the military could see him speak like this. He's just so passionate about the idea that every American deserves a chance to be something better.
He talked about the emergence of India and, especially China, as future
superpowers and he came back to this a few times also. He spoke of how we can't
give Bush credit for whatever good is happening in the Middle East and he said
more on this but I don't have it down clearly enough in my head to relate it.
He also has such an obvious love of country...He really thinks that everyone
should be inspired to do something in the service of the country. He talked
of the Kazakhstan trip. He said that there were journalists from many countries at the forum and every one of them, no matter what country they were from, had something bad to say about the US and this hurt him very deeply...
He talked about faith and how we must never say the "Christian right" but
only the "extremist right" and the "Christian wrong". He recommended again David Brock's "Republican Noise Machine" and talked about how we needed to focus on 2006 and getting rid of DeLay. He said that Harry Reid is a very strong and tough guy, that the Repubs are trying to paint him as weak because he's a bit soft spoken but he said, don't be fooled, he's very
tough and he's good.
I found it interesting that he spent so much time talking domestic issues and that so many people in the audience chose to ask him non-military questions. There really wasn’t much talk about foreign policy or terrorism or such…although there was some.
Then Chris came back up and thanked Gen Clark and said the two events he was waiting for were getting rid of DeLay and taking care of Rick Santorium who holds his father’s seat.
Then Wes walked around again, shaking hands and talking to people further in
small groups. I had brought two pictures that a Kerry photog had taken of my niece and nephew with Gen Clark at a Kerry appearance that Clark had made last fall and I asked him to autograph them. He said he remembered the event and the kids and how much fun that morning was. We talked briefly about the grandson and he confirmed that another little one was on the way.
And that’s about it…longer than I meant to go but I guess I got carried away.
Thanks for reading. :)
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