by John M. Curtis
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Copyright July 1, 2008
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ausing another unwanted controversy, Gen. Wesley K. Clark slammed presumptive GOP nominee Sen. John McCain's military service, insisting getting shot down and spending five years as a prisoner-of-war doesn't qualify him to be president. Speaking on CBS's “Face the Nation” with Bob Schieffer, Clark said McCain lacked “executive responsibility” in his military service. “I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification for president,” Clark told Schieffer, opening up an ugly can of worms. Clark knows more than most that his military background as a four-star general wasn't enough to win him the Democratic nomination when he ran against Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in 2004. While considered on presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Il.) short list for VP, Clark's remarks were truly mind-boggling.

      McCain's plight as the nation's most famous prisoner-of-war is universally admired as one of the great stories of American courage in the 20th century. His over four terms in the U.S. Senate and service on the Senate Armed Services Committee more than qualifies him for president. Clark's remarks threw the Obama campaign for a loop, since he recently backed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-Il.) for president. Clark's remarks on “Face the Nation” were his own, not scripted by anyone connected with the Obama campaign. Because he was on Barack's short-list of possible VP picks, the words carried more clout. “If he expects the American people to believe his pledges about a news kind of politics, Barack Obama has a responsibility to condemn these attacks,” said McCain's campaign manager Rick Davies. Clark's remarks caused distraction and hurt his credibility

      Asked about Clark's comments, Barack called them “inartful,” sidestepping the controversy. Clark, a heavily decorated Vietnam veteran, four-star general and former Supreme Commander of NATO, has a ton of military credentials but little common sense. Most Americans honor McCain's service and sacrifice, enduring torture and permanent injuries while a POW. McCain is as close to a sacred cow as it gets for his military service. Attacking McCain's military credentials was a low blow, whipping up the kind of controversy unwanted by the Obama campaign. “I'm happy to have all sorts of conversations about how we deal with Iraq and what happens with Iran, but the fact that somebody on a cable show or on a news show like Gen. Clark said some that was inartful about Sen. McCain, I don think is probably the thing that is keeping Ohioans up at night,” said Obama.

      McCain's positions on Iraq, the economy, immigration, health care, etc. are all fair game. His inability to see the connection between the Iraq War, high gas prices and the economic downturn indicates that his presidency would continue the same problems facing the country. Clark should have focused, instead, on McCain's inability to define “victory” in Iraq, leading to an interminable sacrifice of U.S. blood and treasure. McCain talks about “alternative energy” but won't address the oil industry's chokehold on the economy. He has no answer how he intends to stop runaway defense spending while keeping the Iraq War going for the foreseeable future. McCain has no fix for ending the government's deficit spending that robs the private sector of needed capital for infrastructure development. McCain won't say how he plans to save Afghanistan while dumping $12 billion a month in Iraq.

      Instead of talking about McCain's lack of “executive responsibility,” Clark should have discussed McCain's plan to stop Iran from building an A-bomb. He's been quoted saying, “the only thing worse than war is a nuclear-armed Iran.” With the U.S. military spread so thin in Iraq, there are no resources to prosecute an effective war in Afghanistan. President George W. Bush placed all his hopes in Pakistan's dictator Pervez Musharraf, whose government cut special deals with Islamic radicals in the no-mans-land, the Waziristan region where al-Qaida's Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri plan their next Sept. 11. Bush's so-called “best friend” in the war on terror has forbid the U.S. military from pursuing Bin Laden and the Taliban in Pakistan. Bin Landen and the one-eyed Mullah Mohammed Omar run wild in Pakistan's tribal lands spewing propaganda and planning new attacks.

      Clark's comments on “Face-the-Nation” were not so unforgivable but disrespectful to McCain's sacrifice. Had Clark focused on McCain positions on Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran, he would have drawn a sharp contrast with Obama. Sending out surrogates like Carville trying to clean up the mess only made matters worse by excusing what was clearly an offensive gaffe. Clark was accused of a reverse “swift-boating,” trying, as happened to Kerry in 2004, to discredit his military background. Unlike Kerry, McCain sustained permanent injuries from his service in Vietnam and is regarded as a real American war hero. With Barack having no military experience and looking for a VP with that background, the campaign can ill-afford to take cheap shots at McCain. There's plenty of room in McCain's positions on Iraq, the economy, health care, etc., to feast on his weaknesses.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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