And. like the condemned, I too did plenty of sighing on Saturday.  It was in fact, a Saturday of Sighs.  Take that Lord Byron.

THE OPENING ACT

ICB's  buttons were neatly laid out and then promptly snatched up in a flurry off the display table-- stuck on shirts and lapels all around the room. The Clarksters were mingling and chatting awaiting Wes's arrival-- I had a chance to meet and mingle with Clarkies new and old, passing out NCCM 2 flyers, and taking in the electric buzz in the room about the General in the Church today, about the General's state of the union, about the General in '08. There's no denying it-- It's in the air, coy or not-- everyone wants to see a General on their '08 ballot.

I Sigh...

Some want it fervently....even obsessively.

MEET & GREET WES & GERT-
 

One of the first people to approach General Clark after he and Gert made their usual grand  entrance into the hall were two Daily Kos bloggers who urgently elbowed their way through the crowd to garner Wes's attention.  They thrust a piece of paper into his hand...

"General-- I'm a blogger at DailyKos --"  Wes's eyes brighten as he offers a big welcoming smile -- [I'm telling you Wes just adores and respect bloggers to the highest degree]. 
"--And I printed out this copy of a recent 2008 straw poll for you to see." he continues.   Well immediately Wes sees the "Clark bar" is by far the longest one on the page, exceeding every other candidate.  He's informed that he wins consistently time after time with others trailing far behind....Wes is taking it all in with interest.

 (I interject here that Feingold has been gaining some ground lately and Wes shoots me this funny "Oh Pleeze!" look that I'll let stand on its own for now.)
 
Then, ever so solemnly, as though his very survival depended on it--the Kossack tells Wes they are willing to do "anything" to help him and that they are strongly urging him to live blog at Kos, mentioning the success Kerry and Feingold had doing so. The lead blogger (I think it was Shockwave?) offered to host Wes's intro diary at his blog there, and added "But we'll need a policy on Iraq from you--" at which point both Wes and I both chimed in "It's on the website!"  The kossacks reiterate their willingness to do anything to help get Wes's word out.  Wes gives them Catherine's number and tells them to call her to set up a time for the diary. The bloggers are thrilled! 

Smart move, Kossacks.

There is much general meet & greet, pose and chat, shake and pose, hors d'oeuvres, drinks, more pics and more posing.  I manage to get a moment to update him on the Arianna conversation on Iraq and Wes just shook his head, reiterating, "It's wrong" (see Part 1-Blogger Round Table)

One thing I remark on each time I see General Clark is his phenomenal reservoir of ENERGY and how he wisely spends it.  Steady, even, always "present" and in the moment-- The General does not squander one kilowatt of his energy... an incredible study of how to burn slowly, and last longer.  I have NEVER, in the chaos of the moment, seen him show ANY signs of "Oh, I wish we could just get this over with so I can get out of here" or "Why do I even have to talk to this dumb guy?" or the typical fake smiling moments of so many other candidates before and after him.  He seamlessly works the room -- never frustrated, bored or anxious...always MEASURED.

This causes me to ponder....OK-- to sigh.  What might it be like, I ask myself, to have our country led by someone who so intimately understands this vital concept of spending versus consuming....energy, finances, natural resources... ANYTHING for that matter?  The art of real conservation.

I know the sapping drain that accompanies these events and endless photo posings.  I study the man as he snakes his way across the floor - never overlooking one eager handshaker with a question, comment, or friend with a camera...and I never see that draining.  Instead -- he seems to FEED off of the energy of the crowd.  His battery literally charged by the personal connection to the people-- important or ordinary-- just the people.  He's truly a man of the people, I marvel.  And, Oh - here I go again.

Sigh.

After a sweet three song musical performance by Michael Melvoin and some cute guy in a purple tie and a great voice...  Michael Webber took the stage to introduce Wes.

After a wrap up of Wes's dizzying schedule for that day alone, he pans-- "This is a very busy man who's not running for President...."  Laughter all around.

Wes jaunts onstage and immediately whips off his jacket (Oh--I forgot: Navy Blazer, white shirt, grey pants, red print tie) and tosses it over the railing.

"I want to introduce my wife" -  First words out of his mouth. Talk about your family values...

Then he intro's Wes Jr, and proceeds to thank everyone-- by name; John Heaner, Michael Webber, Mike and Keith for the music, and even his driver Jeff, and his West Point roomate Ted Hill, who came down from San Luis Obispo--a Berkely PhD Mathematics wizard.

ON AMERICA-

Like at the Church, Wes bemoans the fact that people are now casting aspersions and doubting our great country -- thinking that the 21st is "not our century".

"There's a spirit in this country that no one else can match....There's just something about America...that is SO powerful, SO generous, so honest-- and in many ways so SELF-CORRECTING--"  The last phrase giving me pause...'so self-correcting'...Yes, I remember it now, it's the checks and balances now threatened that we have preserved and maintained for two centuries,  that have become ingrained in our political and personal character.  Self-correcting.  That stand alone notion by itself gives me a whiff of hope.

And I sigh...again.

"It's the longest standing democracy for a reason.  And you're the reason. It's ordinary Americans who care and give and fight and struggle..."

And then he brings it home--

"OK, We lost the Supreme Court...Now, If we don't do this right in the 2006 elections-- much more than the Supreme Court is at stake.  It's our ability to maintain our Constitution and the separation of powers..."  OK, we're properly scared again.

"The protection of America...it really doesn't start in North West Pakistan.  It starts right here on Main Street, with upholding our laws that give us the rights and freedoms.."

ON IRAN

A few highlights on what he sees as a possible scenario of an attack on Iran --

The military option Wes says is probably only two weeks of initial strikes with around 4000 aircraft.  He assumes we'd put Special Forces on the ground to go inside..."We're gonna have to seize their oil facilities on the Persian Gulf...they've got missile launching sites..." He says there are some 40 nuclear sites --half of which we probably are aware of their locations.

At this point I need to say that Wes's tone had dropped into an ultra casual conversational inflection....as if he were discussing what to order for take out.  But instead of saying, "double cheeseburger with fries"-- he is saying things like:

"The Stealth Bombers, these J-DAM Missiles...they're pretty good.  B-52 bombers with GPS guided weapons can launch 64 bombs each, they'll hit within one to two feet of their intended target....500 pound bombs are big.  We got 20 bombers, they just keep coming back...they fly real high, they're good,  so they don't care what the weather is." 

And it's all with the ceremony of ordering office supplies.  I remind myself this is a four star General - having served in the Military for over 3 decades and that is in fact his shop talk, that is his small talk. But part of my mouth is hanging open as this speech continues.  I gaze around to see others likewise.

"You gotta go in against his air defense...his military barracks, aircraft, airfields, missile launching facilities...We've had Predator drones flying over.  I'm sure every fourth woman in a Burkha on the streets of Teheran is an Israeli agent--"  Nervous laughter from a now slightly edgier crowd.

The conclusion; "After 14 days, the mission will NOT be accomplished." (Aha!) Sigh.

President Amandinijab (SP?) is now a hero in this scenario, Wes says..."He's David -- and we're Goliath... picking on Muslims."  He gets exactly what he wants,  "This is real trouble.  A Q Kahn and Pakistan can give him nuclear weapons..."  Some fidgeting in the seats at this.  America is so war weary.

Then Wes sends out a personal challenge to Bush and the administration.  "That's why I URGE Washington NOW -- IN THE NEXT 30 DAYS-- to send an emissary to Teheran...GO TALK TO THE IRANIANS now...before it's too late!"

And he is dead serious here....

Sigh.

GOD GAVE WES A KARL ROVE MEMO-

One night last December, Wes tells us he woke up at 3 AM, and suddenly received-- "from God"-- a memo written by Rove to Bush, outlining their 2006 strategy... (I think it may have been covered already on Kos, so I'll just drop a few highlights.)

Wes "Now, I didn't write this, so--This is like plagiarism, OK...I hope God's got a sense of humour."

RE Iran:  "Rove said: Take action in March...June at the latest."

ROVE to W; "You believe in a CEO-led government-- It's about efficiency!  So yes, Tom is in some trouble in Texas, and Bill doesn't have his head in the game in the Senate, and some think Dems can pick up seats in '06...But they're wrong! ---- We have to KEEP our monopoly on National Security as a Republican issue.  We have to prevent Dems from speaking out about it and redefining it..."

Wes looked around the room at the end, and said; "Some of you are laughing, some of you are crying....I hope I'm wrong about this scenario." Along with yet another disclaimer that he didn't write it...he adds: "I learned in the Military to try to think LIKE YOUR ADVERSARIES"  Good solid advice.

I muse what other possible Presidential candidate might have the humor and imagination to express his strategies via a Memo from Karl Rove delivered by God....  I imagine Mark Warner or Hillary giving that speech.

And I sigh.

THE CHALLENGE OF THE 21ST CENTURY FOR AMERICA-

"Our greatest challenge -- it's not this silly stuff Rumsfeld is saying about this "long war"-- that's the wrong analogy.  The thing that's going to consume America cannot be Islamic Terrorism... that's nothing but a battle of ideas!!  If we'd stop stepping on their toes, we'd find that they want about the same things most everybody else wants.  Yes, there's some crazies out there, but the more we push against the crazies...the more crazies we create...No, that's not the challenge."

Sigh. Oh sigh....

"Our challenge is-- in a global economy where we're 5% of the world's population consuming 25% of the consumables...the challenge of the 21st Century is how we deal with the growth of super giant economies like China and India, in a way that protects America and lets us retain our values.  And that starts at home.  We have to change what we're doing here at home."

Then he rattles off a list of improvements needed from pre-school and other improved higher education, (esp in engineering and sciences), new models for the workplace, better business environment, fixing the health care system, with 20-30 year long term plans and government incentives to institute all the above and more. (long term planning...such a concept?  For a man not running for President that is...)

"We don't do all that-- we won't make it." He cites the average work week in Korea is an 80 hour week-- rush hour starting at 4 AM and workdays ending around 11 PM....Americans wouldn't go for that....

EXIT STAGE LEFT

One of the last questions from the audience came from a man who proclaimed the General had delivered the most impassioned defense of the Constitution he had ever heard in his life, but "Why didn't we see that side of you in your televison appearances" where he seemed much more restrained?  Wes laughed and promised to try to inject more of that passion into his Fox appearances!  So open and willing to learn anything new -- any small improvement, at this stage of his illustrious career.  I take a pause to imagine how this country might be served by someone with that kind of humility, curiosity, and quest for progress-- at its helm...  And guess what I do next?  Uh huh.