Wesley Clark 2008 Run?

One of the fascinating things about blogs is the growing number of blogs dedicated to a special issue or even a particular candidate. The blog called, A Wes Clark Democrat, has a post on Wesley Clark that of course is favorable to Clark but informative; here are the first two paragraphs:

My reasons to support Clark are four fold, and the basic reasons are interrelated. I really like Clark on the issues, which is over half of his appeal to me, and I'll expand on that below. I rank this at over 50% because if Clark took the wrong stand on an important range of issues, it wouldn't matter how I felt about him otherwise. The remaining three reasons are all closely bunched for me, but they are key to my support of Clark, because while it isn't easy for me to find other Democratic politicians to agree with on issues, it isn't near impossible either. Number Two. I love Clark for his character, his independence, and his personal integrity, which may come in a close second for my reasons to support him. Clark is an honest man who has always believed in making personal sacrifices on behalf of his nation. That is the mark of a leader I can respect. Clark has always walked that walk. I can spend a lot of time writing about that because I have spent a lot of time thinking about that and what about Wes Clark appeals to me. Perhaps I will write more on it in a follow up post. In my mind, of those considering a Democratic run for President in 2008, Wesley Clark and Russ Feingold top the pack for me on both these two points, with Wes and Russ breaking away from the rest on honesty, independence and character.

My last two reasons are these. Ability and Electability. I'll talk about them in that order but my stress here is on Ability, because we already spend a lot of time on these boards talking about Electability. Most by now know how bright Wes Clark is; first in his class at West Point, a Rhodes Scholar with three advanced degrees from Oxford etc. Clark also has extraordinary personal courage, which has been demonstrated in dramatic ways periodically throughout his life. Our next President will need both. Clark is highly skilled at analyzing complex problems and arriving at realistic risk assessments for all the response options available. He has a demonstrated ability to think outside the box, to see possible ways of approaching a problem that are not conventional wisdom. Factoring in the real likelihood of resistance to a proposed course of action is a tactical skill that many politicians are lacking in, but that ability allows a political leader to craft a strategy for accomplishing his or her goals that goes beyond their ability to choose the right position to fight for. Clark is unrivaled in that regard.

Wesley Clark, along with John Edwards, Russ Feingold, Hillary Clinton and possibly Mark Warner, are the five Democratic candidates I take seriously in 2008; there are other possibilities, including John Kerry, and maybe in time I should take a look at them as well. I would like to post on all the candidates from time to time.

In 2004, Wesley Clark was a novice politician and entered the race late in 2003; if he has overcome the pure campaigning errors that he made in 2004 in his first run for office, he could be a force. Given the current environment and the increasingly number of revelations of wrongdoing on the part of Republicans in Washington, I suspect Clark, more than most candidates, could make a convincing argument that he would put the good of the nation ahead of politics.

Postscript: I have two minor criticisms of the blog, A Wes Clark Democrat. First, the site should open itself to comments. Second, when it posts commentary by others, it ought to include a brief comment on who those people are. Otherwise, it's a fine blog.