Meeting the General in Rochester

By mgm
From the Clark Community Network
August 2, 2006

General Clark and Eric Massa arrived at Mario's Via Abruzzi only a few minutes late, after having had a press conference at the Rochester Veteran's Outreach.

200 of us waiting for the stars, while we munched on $100 buffet salads and exchanged Bush insults. As soon as they came in, Wes started to work the room until Eric called him to stand "in a reception line" (of two).

For those of you who haven't met Eric in person, he has an extremely strong-- one might even say "commanding" personality. On their way to a corner to form the two-man reception line, Eric, passing by, spotted me and said "Miriam, get on over here." I was startled that he remembered my name after one meeting, but then recalled that I'd given him one of my books. And I wasn't so startled that I didn't "get on over" very fast, while everyone else was sort of milling around.

Thus, friends, I finally met the General.

While others were still clueing into what was happening we had a chat about books!

It's an odd thing, but I've seen so many clips and live TV appearances of Clark, that I felt rather as if I were meeting/talking with an old friend. He looked tired- -which no doubt he was--but the eyes were ultra-alert. And I suppose you all want to know that he was wearing a light gray suit (in 90+ degree outdoor heat.) I think he had on a blue tie but won't swear to it--to tell the truth, I wasn't very interested in his tie . I won't give you a word-for-word account of what he said (spoke over half an hour) because CarolNYC did that so well in her blogged NJ Paul Aronsohn account and Clark's talk today was very similar. And much of what he said we are all familiar with.

His audience was responsive and enthusiastic and I could see the moment his fatigue fell away and he went off on a roll. It was right after the cheering he got when he called the administration "strategic dunces!" (And keep in mind that Rochesterians aren't ordinarily very a "cheering" sort of people.)

Much more unsettling was when he used the word "danger" three times regarding America: i.e. "America is in danger." "It is a dangerous time for America."

He retold the Paul Wolfowitz 1991 plan for the Middle East horror story related in Carol's blog. I think most people there, or certainly the ones near me, were pretty well shocked. And angry.

Eric was his high-energy, passionate, straightforward self, his short talk delivered in that attractive baritone voice of his. Really had the audience enthused and...I guess the only word for it is "relieved" that they had a really good candidate there. Afterward, the majority of people flocked around him, asking what they could do to help his campaign, etc.

General Clark was standing at a window with a few around him requesting pictures. When he gestured for me to come over, I told him my Paul Wolfowitz story.

I went to school in Ithaca with Paul Wolfowitz and his older sister Laura, who is my age. Laura and I were little more than nodding acquaintances, but we were both fairly serious students (at that stage of life at least.) We were both honor speakers at our graduation and one day we were rehearsing our speeches together at her house when Paul, maybe three years younger as I recall, was being his relentlessly obnoxious, weird, nosy little self (I've often wondered if his personality is twisted against humanity because his ears were positively elephantine. He got teased about them, but he was too arrogant to respond gracefully and consequently he got teased more).

Finally Laura said to me in exasperation, "Let's take him into the bathroom, fill up the tub, and drown him." (Talk about missed opportunities!)

Clark threw back his head and laughed. Hard. And we talked a bit about what-might- have-been(s). And then they whisked him off to the airport. It's my impression that he will run in '08 if he thinks he can win. But that caveat covers a multitude of things. Let's all hope, because I believe he is our hope.