Opinion Page
I will go on record today. I have said previously that Hillary Clinton would run for president in 2004. I still stand by that statement. Now Wesley Clark is running for President, a mere 4 months before the first primaries. People are asking why. I have an idea as to not only why he is running, but who is behind it.
Let's first look at the issue of why Clark would run. Does he stand a chance at getting the nomination? No. Not even close. He is way behind in fundraising, and has said little on the record about his policies. We know mainly that he is anti-Bush, due to various gatherings he's hosted or attended. We know that he's for "universal healthcare" (funded by the "evil rich"). But how can a man who barely won a NATO-led war against a lowly Slavic republic, in spite of numerous tactical errors, manage to solve the bigger problems that we have at home? Well, you can surround yourself with people smarter than yourself - it worked for Reagan.
So, we look at who Clark is surrounding himself with. Big surprise there - numerous people from the Clinton era. A nice way to put it might be "Clinton loyalists", but I think the term "Clinton conspirators" hits closer to the mark.
Why, do you say? Because I think that the Clintons didn't like Clark when Clinton was President, and I think that now he is being used by them for a purpose. Call him a "useful idiot," if you please. I believe that the reason that he is running, and that the Clintons are throwing their friends and supporters at him is not because they think he's going to in. I believe that their ONLY purpose is to further divide the "declared" Democratic candidates. While some candidates like Sharpton, Graham, or Kucinich couldn't get nominated, much less elected, people like Dean are running away with the party. So, how do you take the wind out of the sails of people like Dean, Kerry, Lieberman, and Gephardt? They are all well-known, and have political careers (unlike Clark, who has never held public office or faced an election).
So, let's just say that you are waiting to join the Presidential race, and you have high name recognition. However, you made a promise to the fools that have elected you to the Senate, after you said you didn't want to serve in Congress. So, you hire a "useful idiot" to enter the race late in the game, and have him take the other candidates down a notch. The news of his entry takes the others off of page one, and he also appeals to the "angry left" that has been tripping over itself to see who can get furthest to the left. With one entry, you can marginalize Kerry's touting of his military service, push Gephardt off the radar screen, send Lieberman hiding, and make Dean seem like a moderate. So, Dean now has a split camp, and the other three have to leave their supporters and go off of the deep [left] side after Clark and Dean.
Now that you've fatally wounded the chances of Dean et. al. of solidifying the Democrats behind any of the major (I won't use the term "legitimate") candidates, you can enter late in the game, offering yourself as either the "solution" or "savior" of the party. You "allow yourself to be persuaded to run" after fictional "focus groups" declare the need for you to "come to the rescue" of your party. So, you "reluctantly" enter, claiming that you're only renegging on your promise not to run because your party needs you. After all, you're not doing this for yourself, right? The people need you, that's why you're running.
So, reluctantly, either late this year or early next, Hillary Clinton will respond to the "focus groups" and enter the race for President. Think I'm kidding? We only have to wait and see.
Previous day's
rant
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