Clark: McCain A Hero, But Lacks Command Experience

WASHINGTON — Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, a former Democratic presidential candidate now supporting Barack Obama, said Sunday John McCain's military service does not automatically qualify him to be commander in chief.

Underscoring during a national television appearance a position he has been expressing for several weeks, Clark said performing heroic military service is not a substitute for gaining command experience.

"In the matters of national security policy making, it's a matter of understanding risk," he said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "It's a matter of gauging your opponents and it's a matter of being held accountable. John McCain's never done any of that in his official positions. I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in the armed forces, as a prisoner of war.

"He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee and he has traveled all over the world, but he hasn't held executive responsibility," Clark said. "That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded _ that wasn't a wartime squadron."

Moderator Bob Schieffer, who raised the issue by citing similar remarks Clark has made previously, noted that Obama hadn't had those experiences nor had he ridden in a fighter plane and been shot down. "Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president," Clark replied.

In a March conference call with reporters while he was still backing Hillary Rodham Clinton, Clark said: "Everybody admires John McCain's service as a fighter pilot, his courage as a prisoner of war. There's no issue there. He's a great man and an honorable man. But having served as a fighter pilot _ and I know my experience as a company commander in Vietnam _ that doesn't prepare you to be commander in chief in terms of dealing with the national strategic issues that are involved. It may give you a feeling for what the troops are going through in the process, but it doesn't give you the experience first hand of the national strategic issues."

He reiterated that position last week in an article on The Huffington Post Web site.

"If Barack Obama's campaign wants to question John McCain's military service, that's their right," McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said after Clark's appearance Sunday. "But let's please drop the pretense that Barack Obama stands for a new type of politics. The reality is he's proving to be a typical politician who is willing to say anything to get elected, including allowing his campaign surrogates to demean and attack John McCain's military service record."

Comments

[notepad2]

07:07 PM on 07/01/2008

Liberal hero Clark;


.... the Clinton administra­tion relieved him of his command two months early ... was blocked from sending paratroope­rs to Pristina airport to pre-empt an unexpected Russian advance. Lieutenant­-general Sir Michael Jackson overruled General Clark because the British commander did not want to spark a clash with the Russians. "I'm not going to start Third World War for you," General Jackson told the US commander


"General Wesley Clark was involved in the siege and final assault near Waco, Texas that killed, by a combinatio­n of toxic gas and fire, at least 82 people including some three dozen women, children and infants."
http://www­.apfn.org/­apfn/clark­.htm

[GHENT007]

11:19 AM on 07/01/2008

If anybody has the creds to be president its general clark!!! i'm praying that barak pickes him as VP mccain cant come close to his experience and leadership qualites, trying to blow smoke up the american peoples ass will backfire!!­! lets let them know that in nov!!!! MCCAIN IS NOT QUALIFIED TO BE PRESIDENT!­!

[GHENT007]

11:06 AM on 07/01/2008

General Wesley Clark is totally right, john mccain is not qualifed to be president, simply having been shot down, does not qualify him to be president of the united states, if he was held in a prison in vietnam and didnt escape, then he's not reliable, if he does not know the diference between shea and sunni again he's not reliable, and just yesterday he's confused abot 2 north afrcian nations, his best years were spent in vietnam we dont want leftovers for president!­!

[eden4barack08]

09:19 AM on 07/01/2008

All war veterans are heroes AUTOMATICA­LLY qualified to be presidents­, so long as they're not Democrats. That's in the neo-cons mantra.

As for a 4 Star General being a Democrat? Oooooooohh­, they HATE that, just HATE it!

[ApolloniaCreed]

08:08 AM on 07/01/2008

I haven't spoken to a person who thinks Gen Clark was wrong. And since Gen Clark was not referencin­g Sen McCain, but the charge by Bob Scheiffer that Barack Obama has not been "shot down"; this whole thing is a media concocted false argument.

[eden4barack08]

09:04 AM on 07/01/2008

BINGO

[isisdawnra]

10:01 AM on 07/01/2008

ApolloniaC­reed!

Thank you for saying exactly what I've been thinking!

When the words left scheiffers lips , I knew where this was going.

I cant believe that it's the..... media!....­. that dictates what we're supposed to think in this country of freedom.

What a Joke! That is........­... the media!

[joeinvt]

07:06 AM on 07/01/2008

The MSM "Clintoniz­ed" and "Gored" Clark's comment, i.e. took it out of context to give it a negative connotatio­n like they did with Bill's "fairy tale" remark and Gore's "Internet" comment, etc. Watch out. They will continue to do it again and again. Obama did what he had to do in the way of damage control, but Clark's "response" to Schieffer"­s question was corrcet and straightfo­rward and bears no resemblanc­e to the Swift-boat­ing of Kerry in 2004.

[milo9]

02:51 AM on 07/01/2008

Undercutti­ng McCain's "hero" status is not going to yield anything worth a damn. It was a dumb move on Wes 's part. WTF is wrong with the leadership class?

[peacekitten]

03:54 AM on 07/01/2008

it would have been if that's what general clark actually did. but he didn't.

[barackobama4prez]

11:10 AM on 07/01/2008

but you have to admit, it's a legitimate debate. what the hell else are we supposed to be doing during an election? We have to question BOTH nominees to see their strengths and weaknesses so we can decide how we want to vote.

[watchTVgetSTUPID]

02:00 AM on 07/01/2008

I am tired of the the last 20 years of "Good Cop Bad Cop" routine. I am voting for real change I can believe in.

If Obama picks someone like General Clark for his Veep, then I will know he is serious about change. Anyone the propaganda machine tries to defame like they did to General Clark today is someone who truely represents change. They are afraid of him.

[Dane1911]

01:24 AM on 07/01/2008

Wow, let me find out the Repubs are scared. LOL>.They never been attacked like this before. Obama has boosted everyone egos in teh Democratic Party....T­Here confidence­s are on point this time around. They are responding to the Democratic­s...LOL..I like this...McC­ain seem so nervous talking about this morning in his press conference in Harrisburg Pa.

[JeanPaulSatire]

01:13 AM on 07/01/2008

Without commenting on the substance of what either Clark or Black said, how the two candidates handled those situations tells us a lot about their character.

Mc Cain't responded tepidly with a bewildered "I cannot imagine why he would say" that and no one from his campaign rejected Black's remarks. One could practicall­y hear the nodding and winking. It's unlikely that, given the passage of time, Black will be asked to resign from the campaign as one of its top, paid advisers.

Contrast that with how Obama reacted: he specifical­ly honored Mc Cain't for his service and said patriotism should not be made into political issues. Moreover, his campaign immediatel­y indicated that it rejected the comments made by Clark. Bear in mind, too, that Clark does not have an official, paid role in the Obama campaign.

John "Ace" McClone represents business and politics as usual -- including the utter lack of accountabi­lity that W ushered in. Barack Obama represents a new, straight-f­orward approach in which those in power (or wish to be) must be responsive and responsibl­e.

[pupbayer]

12:09 AM on 07/01/2008

I absolutely agree with what Wes Clark said but I'm not sure that McCain ever said being a POW qualified him to be President. Did McCain ever say that? If so, I'd love a link. If not, this is because O's camp is afraid McCain's being a POW will make him seem more patriotic or something? I'm not really sure I get the point here?

As for Wes Clark, I've always kind of liked him. I know with him everything is about Wes Clark. I have a couple of friends who are West Point grads and career Army and they say he is not respected in the Army. I've never been a fan of the military establishm­ent so that doesn't sway me much. I'm more unimpresse­d that he was a Fox News analyst.

[ricchase]

12:07 AM on 07/01/2008

It is a sad state when speaking the truth becomes a disqualifi­er. There are so many truths that could and should be spoken today, but hypocrites and fear, bordering on cowardice, stand in the way. And what is worse is when the person in which the spoken truth was intended to help, then denies you.

[Gary47]

11:49 PM on 06/30/2008

Wes Clark is not only right, his voice is exactly what's needed in this campaign. McCain's been getting years and years of hero-worsh­ip from the media regarding his military experience­, but it is totally irrelevant to the Presidency­. His being in a POW camp is a tragedy, period. I feel bad for him, but it's silly to think he gets to add it to his resume.

[pearbrandy]

11:47 PM on 06/30/2008

Clarke is right. How exactly does having minor military leadership experience and being a POW equip you to tackle the following critical 21st century governance issues:

Climate change
Energy policy (peak oil)
Universal health care
Education
Judicial reform (fascist supreme court)
Lobbying and donor reform
Iraq war profiteeri­ng (est. $56 BILLION of US taxpayers money defrauded by Haliburton (ie, Dick Cheney)
Bringing peace and stability to the Middle East
Directing misdirecte­d military policy at the REAL problem: Afghanista­n

Answer: It does not automatica­lly equip you with the experience to handle any of the above.

But it sure does help if you want to keep a warmonger who voted for Iraq in the whitehouse to ensure Haliburton­'s profits continue to rise at the expense of US lives and taxpayers.

And no-one has mentioned McCain's violent anger management problem yet.

[youknowwhat]

11:13 PM on 06/30/2008

To me the Republican­s are getting their own game run on them. Say something controvers­ial to get it in the news cycle. Sit back and observe the mayhem while that controvers­y hangs in the air. Never apologize or give a half assed one. Leave that thought of what you said for everybody to see and smell. To the Repubs it doesn't matter if it's the truth or not, and it's usally a lie. The difference from what the Republican­s do and what General Clark said is that the Republican­s lie. What Clark said was the truth.

[jeanrenoir]

11:24 PM on 06/30/2008

Exactly right. All praise to Gen. Clark for telling the truth about McCain's wildly inflated reputation as a potential "commander­," with no commanding experience­. Attacks on McCain inflation will be much more telling when they come from the mouth of Jim Webb as Obama's VP. This whole line of attack needs to be directed at "hard-work­ing, WHITE" male voters in Appalachia and elsewhere. And attacks like this go down much better with those voters when they are made with a kind of irony those guy understand­, as Webb does since he comes from that background­, but which Clark has been trained out of, if he ever possessed it in Arkansas in the first place. This is no criticism of Clark. I'm just looking forward to the relentless Agnew-like attacks from Webb--but, like Clark's, totally different from Agnew and later Republican Swift Boaters because they'll be TRUE. Thanks God Axelrod and Co. are well-armed this time to fight it out with the Republican­s. This in itself will raise Appalachia­n male respect for Obama, just as it did for Hillary, no favorite of Appalachia­n men until she became a relentless fighter. Remember the key titles of Webb's books: Born to Fight and A Time to Fight. This is a message Appalachia­n males get and appreciate­. It's something they know something about in Chicago, too, I hear. Good: Bring it on!