Over the last four years I have come to appreciate that Wes Clark seems to have a sure sense as to where attacks on the chances for a Democratic Party victory are most likely to come from, and how he carefully pre-positions himself to protect whatever flank of our Party is most exposed and vulnerable to an attack that might deny us an important victory. There is no more important victory to secure for the Democratic Party now than the White House in 2008, because that victory is not just needed for a domestic and partisan political party, it is needed both for the health of our Democracy and for sanity in this world.
The visible danger that the Democratic Party faces in 2008 comes from all of the usual suspects, starting of course with the Republican Party but including a host of puppet masters and enablers, from powerful special interests to a rightist propaganda oriented mass media. Most Democrats know those enemies well enough, they are familiar foes; dangerous yes, but easily recognized and fairly straight forward to defend against. Sometimes we do well in that regard, sometimes not, but it is an unseen adversary that can ambush and thereby defeat our efforts to deny Republicans the White House in 2008.
That adversary hides in our own passion, in our own desire to right all that is wrong in our nation now. I am guilty of that passion though I do not view it as a crime. I make no apologies for fighting for what I believe in my heart is best for our nation. But passion denied frequently leads to bitterness, and for many of us in the activist base of the Democratic Party, passions flow in support of Democratic candidates for President far more progressive than Hillary Clinton will ever be in our eyes. Passion isn't the hidden adversary that will have to be overcome for Democrats to defeat the Republican nominee for President in 2008. It is a lack of passion for our most likely presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, that I fear may doom us.
I am among those who believe that Hillary Clinton will be a tough sell with the American electorate in 2008. I am also among those who believed barring a Clark or Gore candidacy, that Hillary Clinton is destined to win the Democratic nomination for President. To me that now seems all but certain. Neither Obama or Edwards or any other of our declared candidates can overtake Clinton in my opinion; Wes Clark is not running and I don't believe Al Gore will either. It will take a lot of hard work by a lot of committed progressive minded Democratic grassroots activists to put Hillary Clinton over the top in 2008, and she can not afford for that effort to lurch forward in low gear after her nomination.
I suspect this is one of the reasons why Wes Clark chose to endorse Hillary Clinton now. Clark is a thoroughly decent human being who was trained in the profession of warfare. There is no room for woulda coulda shoulda in a military campaign. Clark has been on the equivalent of such a campaign ever since he entered politics to oppose George W. Bush's neocon scripted disastrous plans for America.
I firmly believe that Wes Clark believes it is near certain now that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic candidate for president in 2008. If he is correct, and my respect for Wes Clark's ability to analyze pending events has grown continually since I first was exposed to his thinking four years ago, then the future of our nation's well being in the first half of the 21st century will largely rest on Hillary Clinton's ability to defeat the Republican nominee for President in 2008.
I don't think Hillary Clinton needs further active support from Clark supporters in order to win the Democratic nomination. I for one can not bring myself to give her such support at this stage, but that part doesn't matter. What matters is how fast so many of us who have deep resistance to the idea of supporting Hillary Clinton for President are able to work through our antipathy toward her to fight for her chances to win in November. We can all pretend that there is an intellectual switch each of us can throw that shifts us from opposing Hillary with a passion to fighting hard to help her defeat the Republican if she wins the nomination, but most people are not wired that way. There is an emotional psychological journey that must first be undertaken, and that journey can be slow and torturous.
It was that type of journey that took too long to take for far too many in 1968 that allowed Richard Nixon to hold onto a rapidly shrinking lead over a late charging Hubert Humphrey to win that presidential election and doom our nation to four more years of war in Viet Nam. It took a long time for anti war Democrats to become pragmatists in 1968 after the Chicago convention nominated LBJ's Vice President to run over Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern and the ghost of RFK. By the fall most of us were sobered enough by the prospect of Nixon getting elected that we could then seriously work for Humphrey, but we were a little too little, a little too late.
I don't think Wes Clark expects his endorsement of Hillary to turn many people who oppose her now into supporters of her now. But I think he realizes by endorsing Hillary Clinton early, who he (and I) fully expect will be the Democratic nominee, that he is helping hasten for many that emotional psychological journey I mentioned above, so that come the day when she is nominated, more of us will be ready to stop sitting on our hands and start working hard to get Hillary Clinton elected.
In my opinion (and I suspect in Clark's) Hillary Clinton doesn't really need further help to win the nomination now because it is already hers to lose. What Hillary needs most is for more Democratic activists to view her nomination as at least marginally acceptable when in all likelihood it actually comes to pass. That is how Wes Clark is helping Hillary Clinton, and the Democratic Party in my opinion, the most. That is why his support of her now is critical. Hillary will need some serious bridge building to this party's activist base to unify the party behind her if she becomes our nominee. Wes Clark is helping walk point for her now in that regard. In so doing I believe Wes Clark is also walking point for our nation's future well being, just like he has for his entire life.
For those who do not see Hillary's nomination as a near certainty already, Clark's endorsement may be a bitter pill. Since I have long believed that only Al Gore or Wes Clark could deny her that nomination, of those who either are in the race or had a potential to enter it, I can appreciate what I think Wes Clark now is attempting to do, even if I am not pleased at the prospect of Hillary Clinton being our candidate in 2008.
