Clark is less upset about his dropping out than I am

[Tactical Progressive]

Just watched his interview with Aaron Brown on CNN. Damn, the guy remains as straight as a laser beam. Talked clearly and plainly as always, refuting a couple of Aaron's questions about the bullshit that is the media's 'conventional wisdom'. Brown is asking him these all of these marr questions (media-approved rendition of reality), and Wes is like "No, ...", "No, ...", "No, ...". It was fun. Some basics from memory:

1) He thought his campaign did a great job starting from absolute zero in terms of everything. He was really proud of the campaign.

2) Didn't think his Oklahoma win was a prelude to anything; he had been seeing the Democratic party building a tidal wave of support around the lead candidate - more correctly their lead candidate - in order to clear the table as quickly as they could. He saw the whole thing coming from far off it appears.

3) And most of all - No, he didn't take a while to get his footing, which every single pundit has accepted as the standard media story. He said his very first town meeting somewhere in New Hampshire was lauded as the best since Clinton.

Other things too. To sum up, he didn't plan on politics, he was drafted - he almost sounded like he'd been 'called up' and volunteered, he thinks they did a great job, it just wasn't in the cards for the way this election season has been going, he's happy he did it and didn't seem that unhappy that it's over. He said a few times that he's not done; that America is headed in the wrong direction both domestically and abroad, and that he's going to be out there working to change that. I think he's been bitten by politics, and I certainly hope so.

He just always tells it like it really is, and I say that as somebody who doesn't think that's particularly virtuous. He just somehow does it right. And he slams Bush better than all of the other candidates put together, including Dean, as far as I'm concerned. That's why alot of Republicans really, really didn't want Clark.

Anyway, it was the best interview among consistently good interviews, that I've seen him give. You might want to set your VCR to record the 1am late-night repeat of Brown's show - Clark interview from 1:28 - 1:40.

[boxster]

1. I wouldn't be so sure. I think he's just good at hiding it.

His C-SPAN "dropping out" speech looked like he was on the verge of tears several times.

He isn't the only one.

[Tactical Progressive]

7. He really didn't seem upset in the least

His campaign exit speech in front of all his troops was a little emotional, but at the CNN interview this evening he appeared very relaxed.

He thought the campaign was a great experience. He seemed like someone who'd just gone on a really good vacation and was now content to be back home. He said he wasn't a politician before and he's not one now again. I hope that doesn't last long. No hint of second-guessing or regret, which is unusual. Dean for instance seems really down to me. I don't think he's going to be so circumspect if he drops out.

He just doesn't seem particularly upset. I wish he was more upset, maybe he would have stayed in a little longer.

[incapsulated]

9. Well, I don't know what you were expecting

For him to break down in tears or something, heh.

The man is a General. I don't expect emotional outbursts in public. I have no idea how he was really feeling about this when the decision was being made, but to infer that it was some lack of passion on his part is way off base.

He didn't have to do this. He wasn't a politician. He was, in fact, drafted, asked by thousands to run for office. And, god knows, he took some bullets in the process, not the kind he was used to either.

He did it because he was asked, and because he believed in "the cause". He had to take all the shit that came his way because of it, up to and including bowing out and admitting he wasn't going to make it.

Clark is a super-positive kind of person, that's one of the things that I admire about him. When we were going nuts over this or that issue in the campaign, you would watch him and think he was the front runner. It was uplifting, inspiring, exactly the kind of attitude you would want in a leader. Wallowing in self-pity, sadness or bitterness is for those of us who can afford to. Nobody is looking to us for leadership and direction. That was his job, to buck up the troops and point us to the next battle. That's what he did.

[madmax]

2. He has a lot of charisma besides all of his other fine

attributes. His Arkansas speech was excellent, also. He's such a happy warrior. :loveya: General

[MoonRiver]

3. He's being the brave General for his troops.

Oh, no, here come the tears again. I think he loved us as much as we love him. Somehow we have to keep this movement together. I'm going to bed now, but keep the faith all. :grouphug:

[Tom Rinaldo]

5. Yes. But I honestly think he knows he gave it his best shot

And that he takes comfort from that. That is all anyone can ever do. He is leading us again on this one, that it the standard. One's best effort is always something to be proud of. And he did change the course of this election. He deflated Bush and his warrior posturing, he did that for all Democrats and for our nation.

I mentioned this to a friend here in an email:

Last summer so few knew anything about Wes Clark. How could it be worse now, when so many now do?


Everything he, and we, have done has made a difference. And he, and we, are not through with the mission. Clark just set our sights higher than the White House alone, it's the whole nation that we now are fighting to retake.

[BootinUp]

4. Thanks I think I will record it, and for "the record"...

WE ARE UPSET more than Clark is. Do you see all the Clark posts tonight?

[Kat45]

6. Yes, he was great in that interview.

I'm pretty upset that he's now out of the race, but a little less upset after seeing that interview. I think he'll continue to work to set our country in the right direction, starting with doing all he can to help in getting * the fuck out of the White House.

[Gloria]

8. He left with dignity and with his physical and mental health.....

and a solid core of supporters.

Friday, visit www.clarktopia.com where all the Clark bloggers will be going!

[shance]

10. I actually hope there is some fight and anger underneath the calm manner

We need some spine in this party. I believe Clark has it.

I hope he will continue to move in the direction he is currently going because we need more like him.

I am sad and a little baffled why he decided to withdraw so soon. I hope he wasnt pushed out. We needed him in the ring.

[goclark]

11. Once You Get Out Can You Get Back In?

I know it is a silly question but if my some twist of fate,the other candidates bomb out, can a candidate like Gephart,Lieberman(sorry) or CLARK get back in the race at the convention?

On now I remember,they can be nominated from the floor..right?

:silly:

[incapsulated]

12. You don't have to yell and carry on

To have "fight and anger".

That he has fight is a no-brainer, the man is a General, for godsakes!

His anger is obvious to me, it was his stated reason to run, if you saw the Aaron Brown interview.

He withdrew because he was losing. He was losing to men, that, in my personal opinion, had far less to offer, and I hated that. I found it disheartening and frustrating and I don't think staying in would have done anything but put off the inevitable.

Clark isn't going away. He is now able to fight for what he believes in, in the Party he can call his own without being given sideways glances. He will be around to fight the good fight, no doubt.

[Julien Sorel]

13. You guys almost make me want to go out and buy a TV.

Of course, you start out watching the History Channel and important interviews, and end up eating bon bons and watching Oprah.


Anyway, I saw his AR speech on C-Span, and thought he was calm throughout. He actually strikes me as someone who has a plan -- what that plan is, I don't know. But I doubt he was overwhelmingly crushed, because I saw this coming after NH, and if I did, he and his advisors had to see it. It gives you time to mentally prepare for things.

My own hope is that he does get out there and keep interacting with people. His AR speech was impressive -- notice it was delivered without teleprompter or notes -- and I am again struck by how much he's grown in the past five months. I would dearly like to see him run again in 08, but he has a lot of groundwork to lay first. The cheapshot charges of Republicanism will go away after this year, but he has to work on building ties with the Dem base, and he has to build some kind of rapport with the media which, tin foil aside, simply killed his candidacy because many media people didn't like him.

After Reagan left the governorship of CA, he did weekly radio broadcasts that kept his hand in and kept him in touch with the country. Clark needs to do something like that when this campaign season is over. He also needs to burnish his domestic policy credentials -- I bet he could get a job teaching economics at a local university or something, or write op-ed pieces for newspapers. It all depends on how interested he is in becoming president.

[incapsulated]

14. Well, he's already done the teaching bit

I'm sure there are lots of ways for him to shore up his domestic creds, though, if he wants to.

If Kerry wins, the point is moot, I want him in the cabinet.

He admitted himself in the Brown interview that they knew they were in trouble after Iowa and the Kerry "momentum" hit. He, of course, did not slam the media, as I have done, other than pointing out that the free press you get from winning is more important than anything else. Of course, by the end of it, he couldn't buy positve press even though he won just about as much as Edwards, who had tons of it.

I just don't know how to view the media without the tinfoil. The guy worked for CNN, for chrissakes. Brown was the only one to even aknowlege this former association, and it was reflected in his tone, which was friendly. You could say, and I don't believe it, that they were trying to be overly objective about their coverage because of it, but it was so bad on every level it's no excuse. And it wasn't just CNN.


*edit* A poster who's name I've forgot once had a theory. They had worked in the media and made the point that those in the mass media don't like people that they know are far more intelligent or accomplished than they are. This might hold some water since many of the Democrats that the media has tried to crucify have been unusally intelligent. They are easily intimidated and like to be in a position where they can build you up and destroy you at will, and if someone seems too formidable, they form an instant dislike of them. Make of that what you will.

[Julien Sorel]

15. The teaching experience he has is old,

and came from when he was in the Army. He already relies on that enough in his resume, but teaching intro to econ classes at, say, University of Arkansas/Little Rock, would help. I really would like to see him do a weekly radio or TV spot, though, where he talks about subjects other than foreign policy. It would build huge credibility for him on domestic issues with the public.

The odds of Kerry winning aren't good. Eventually, this economy is going to create jobs or fold, and I don't see evidence of it folding. That ends Kerry. Kerry is much better than Dean, but he was still the third most electable candidate in a GE.

The media are what they are. I used to work in the media, both print and broadcast, and I can tell you they are almost universally a mediocre group of people who, like most of us, think they are smarter than they are, and lots of them have giant egos. Someone like Clark, who is very bright and thinks differently than they do, threatens them. Then you have the lefties -- and a lot of media people, like the fuckface with the NY Times who wrote the story on Clark's 'waffling' over Iraq on the plane flight -- were already in love with Dean, whom Clark threatened. More enemies. Then you have the right wingers, who were terrified of him. Then the extreme left wingers, as exemplified by the early hit piece written in the Nation. Add it all up, and you have a bloc of people who, for differing reasons, dislike the man, and some other people who are lazy enough to go with the flow and what do you have? Press blackout, no tinfoil needed. It isn't professional, but it's human, and it's the way our media work.

There was no reason for Edwards to get the lion's share of attention after Clark beat him in NH despite the Iowa momentum --didn't Kerry take his Iowa momentum and thump Dean in NH??? Why couldn't Edwards beat Clark??? -- but Edwards was the darling of the disillusioned Dean media folks who were still looking for a Clinton surrogate, and you had the chunk of people who disliked Clark. End of campaign.

Someone posted a link earlier to a Slate guy who said many media people found Clark 'creepy;' and so wouldn't give him coverage. I'd sure like to know more about that, because it's the sort of thing I thought was going on.