Sunday, January 11, 2004

By James O'Toole, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

PHILADELPHIA -- For most of his adult life, people would pay attention, maybe even salute, when Gen. Wesley Kanne Clark walked into a room.

Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette Retired Gen. Wesley Clark greets Gwen Ifill, Democratic presidential candidate debate moderator, at the Fox Theater in Detroit. Click photo for larger image. Related articles How a tight-fisted Vermonter became favorite of the left Pollsters agree it's a long way to November Comparing the candidates' Web sites Coming next Sunday: An overview of the stakes and status of the 2004 presidential election as Iowans prepare to cast the first votes that count. Index to all Democratic candidate profiles

But at a staged photo opportunity in West Philadelphia recently, Clark and a handful of aides outnumbered the "civilian" customers of a cozy diner, most of whom appeared to have no idea of the identity of the man speaking earnestly into a local television camera.

The man was undeterred. With a confident smile, he repeatedly introduced himself.

"I'm Gen. Wesley Clark, four star general, I'm running for president. I hope you'll pay attention to what I'm saying and if you like it, I hope you'll support me."

At 58, Clark appears fit and energetic, with small, almost delicate hands. That he burns a lot of calories on the campaign trail and in almost daily swims is evident by the fact that his waist can withstand a breakfast order of potatoes, eggs, turkey bacon, toast and a piece of pie.

Clark came to the Democratic presidential race as first in his class at West Point, Rhodes Scholar, wounded and decorated war hero, top of his class at the Army's General Staff College, White House Fellow, Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. But since his belated entry, Clark has labored, with mixed success, to lift his flesh-and-blood candidacy to the standard of that extraordinary resume.

His own practiced metaphor for his sometimes rocky start down the presidential trail is the trajectory followed by a fighter jet launched from a carrier deck. When first released from the catapult, the jet will seem to falter, rocking its wings, dipping toward the wave tops. Then, Clark explains, it gathers momentum, and soars.

Clark's campaign had a fast launch, his name moving overnight toward the top of national polls. He wobbled a little after that, buffeted by a shot from an old colleague and some self-inflicted wounds. There are recent signs that he's gaining momentum. But the soaring part is yet to come.

If his candidacy does accelerate as winter turns to spring, it would not be a surprise to those familiar with Clark's career march from success to success.

Clark was born in 1944, in Chicago, the son of lawyer and local politician Benjamin Kanne and his wife, Veneta. When he was four, his father died of a heart attack.

	Biography: Wesley Kanne Clark Age: 59. Political experience: none. Education: United States Military Academy, B.S., 1966; Oxford University, M.A. in philosophy, politics and economics, 1968. Marital status: married to Gertrude Kingston Clark. Children: Wesley Clark Jr. Money raised: about $13.5 million, No. 2 among Democrats. Issues: Denounces Bush administration for what he characterizes as a deceptive rationale for going to war in Iraq; would shift occupation to multi-national authority. Domestically, he would lower taxes on moderate income families while raising rates on affluent taxpayers. Quote: "I'm running to bring back the core ideals of our democracy -- personal liberty, open debate, and opportunity for all. These ideals have made us great. They will make us greater. They will make us safer and more prosperous." Web site: www.clark04.com

Clark speaks of the death in "American Son," a campaign biography filmed by Linda Bloodworth, who also directed the Bill Clinton film, "A Man From Hope."

"My father was a tremendous influence in my life ... and then one night he read to me, and I woke up in the middle of the night and there were a lot of adults in the apartment. They kept me from going in the bedroom, and that was the night he died."

Clark and his mother moved back to her native Arkansas, where she married Victor Clark, a banker.

Clark was raised a Baptist and learned only years later, when he was a post-graduate student at Oxford, that his father was Jewish. In an interview with Steven Waldman, editor of Beliefnet, Clark recalled that when he asked his mother why she never told him of his roots, "she started to cry. She said, 'Wesley, you just had enough problems. You didn't need one more. You lost your father. You came down to Little Rock. You were in fights a lot. You had a Chicago accent. You just didn't need one more problem.'"

Clark may have had some problems, but school was never one of them. He was a top student, a member of the high school swim team. He won an appointment to the United States Military Academy, where he finished first in his class on his way to winning a Rhodes Scholarship. At Oxford University, he studied philosophy, politics and economics.

After Oxford, in 1970, Clark joined many of his West Point classmates in Vietnam. According to his memoir, "Waging Modern War," the unit he commanded was searching a suspected Viet Cong complex when he was startled to realize that, "the buzzing around my head wasn't hornets but AK-47 rounds whizzing by, the dark stains on my leg and shoulder wasn't perspiration but blood, and there was a white bone sticking out from my right hand as I looked down to see why I dropped my rifle."

Clark was wounded in the shoulder, hand and hip and shipped out to Japan and then the United States to convalesce. He was awarded the Silver Star and the Purple Heart for his role in the engagement.

Returning to duty he taught at West Point. In 1975, he was chosen a White House Fellow, working in the Office of Management and Budget. Returning to uniform, Clark rose through the ranks. After serving as commander of the 1st Cavalry Division, he was named, in 1996, director for strategic plans and policy for the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon.

In that post, he formed a friendship with Madeleine Albright, a bond that would grow as Albright ascended to secretary of state and Clark to supreme command of NATO.

Controversy over Kosovo

Clark was part of the U.S. team that helped negotiate an end to the war in Bosnia at the Dayton peace talks. The Balkans would soon be the focus of his attention again as he helped pull together the NATO coalition that took up arms against the forces of Slobodan Milosevic and his campaign of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo.

Clark urged forceful action in Kosovo at a time when senior Pentagon officials, notably Defense Secretary William Cohen and Gen. Hugh Shelton, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs, were wary of military escalation.

In his memoirs, Clark recalls Shelton at a low point in the Kosovo bombing campaign telling him on the phone, "The secretary of defense asked me to give you some verbatim guidance, so here it is: 'Get your f------ face off the TV. No more briefings, period. That's it.'

"I just wanted to give it to you like he said it."

Things soon began to look better for NATO in Kosovo. The alliance went on to win its first war in circumstances that brought praise for Clark's military and diplomatic skills.

But those wouldn't be the last harsh words Clark would hear from Shelton.

This fall, as Clark's presidential campaign was just getting off the ground, Shelton was quoted as saying he wouldn't be voting for Clark, saying the decision to pull Clark out of Europe "had to do with integrity and character issues, things that are very near and dear to my heart."

Weeks later, Clark's voice rises as, for the umpteenth time, he is asked to respond to the remark.

"When I was told to leave command, no one ever said anything like that to me ... [Shelton] praised me for my work; I received two defense distinguished service medals. I never heard the word integrity."

Clark attributes the unusual outburst from his former colleague to lingering resentment ,over policy differences.

"Somewhere between all these competing notions of duty, they let it become personal," Clark said. "It was never personal to me."

Determined to start at top

In a post-9/11 world, Clark's military and foreign policy credentials are noteworthy. He has taken pains, however, to complement his military resume with proposals on domestic issues to show that he is not some old soldier unwilling to fade away. He opened his campaign with policy speeches on jobs, the economy and health care. Last week he unveiled an ambitious plan to cut taxes for middle-income families while raising them for those making more than $1 million.

Clark said he would repeal part of the Bush tax cuts and use the money for a two-year, $100 billion program to boost the economy, improve homeland security and aid state and local governments. He would use tax credits to expand health care coverage, with the aim of guaranteeing that every child is fully insured.

But Clark's foreign policy and military expertise remain the chief arguments for his candidacy, which steered him toward the presidential race rather than toward a more modest political goal, he said, such as running for governor of Arkansas as he once considered.

Clark remains determined to start his political career at the top. He has said he has no intention of running for vice president with Dean or any other candidate. Clark claims Dean dangled the vice presidential prospect in a private conversation, which the Dean camp denies.

Clark did seem to exhibit political inexperience, however, when he stumbled early with contradictory statements on whether he would have voted for the resolution that authorized Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq. He now says he never would have supported unilateral action, favoring the sort of broad coalition he helped shape in Kosovo. But in September, he told reporters from The New York Times and Washington Post that he would have voted for it.

Clark has passionately denounced the Bush administration for misleading the country as it promoted the decision to attack Iraq.

Clark's prescription for Iraq and for foreign policy in general is for the United States to cultivate multilateral support for the war against terror. In Iraq, he would get rid of the current occupation authority and replace it with an international organization. Similarly, he would bring NATO in as chief military authority, and he would move to put Iraqis in charge as quickly as possible.

Clark's hopes of implementing his strategic vision depend on an election strategy that defies the notion that a front-loaded primary schedule will confer a huge advantage on a candidate with early momentum. Taking a cue from another military veteran, Arizona Sen. John McCain, Clark has chosen not to make a serious effort in the Iowa caucuses.

Rather, he hopes for a respectable finish in New Hampshire, then a win somewhere the next week, vaulting him into the role of chief alternative to Howard Dean.

After a strong showing in polls as he entered the race, Clark slid toward the back of the Democratic pack. Surveys have provided better news for him in the past week. A new national Gallup poll found that he has nearly as much support as Dean among Democratic voters. A New Hampshire poll put him in second place, a showing that would give Clark claim to the coveted title of the strongest alternative to Dean.

The Feb. 3 tallies in South Carolina and four other states, predicted, will "underscore the fact that Gen. Clark is the only national candidate."

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