By FOSTER KLUG | The Associated Press via The Washington Post | Wednesday, March 31, 2010

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration's new engagement strategy with Myanmar risks allowing the country's military leaders to use direct talks to justify already flawed elections expected this year, a bipartisan report warns.

The report Wednesday from the Asia Society, a leading think tank, supports U.S. efforts to press the generals who have ruled Myanmar for decades to hold credible elections and to give more rights to minorities and activists.

But the United States, the report said, must be wary of appearing to legitimize elections, Myanmar's first in two decades, that opponents say are meant to strengthen the military's power.

"The United States must tread carefully through this minefield," the report said. "It is quite possible that the leadership's primary objective in engaging with the United States is to demonstrate to its own population that the United States endorses" the junta's "road map to democracy" and a constitution that enshrines the military's leading role in politics.

The report was co-chaired by retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark, a 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, and by Henrietta Fore, former Republican President George W. Bush's head of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Its release comes about half a year into Obama's efforts to reverse the long-standing U.S. policy of isolation and instead engage Myanmar's top generals.

General Wesley Clark, Karl Rove faceoff at Univ. of Buffalo (Video)

Debate date: September 26, 2008 | Transcript by RegNYC

Article excerpts from The Buffalo News | Jay Rey | NEWS STAFF REPORTER

It wasn’t Obama-McCain, but Western New York had a pretty good debate of its own Friday night at the University at Buffalo. On one side was Karl Rove, Republican strategist and former White House deputy chief of staff.

On the other side was retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark, who had sought the Democratic Party’s nomination in 2004.

The two launched this year’s Distinguished Speakers Series in Alumni Arena with a bang, by debating some of the same contentious issues the presidential candidates faced, such as the economy, a $700 billion government bailout, health care and the war in Iraq.

Each started with five minutes for opening comments on his party’s slant.

“We are blessed to be citizens of this country,” Rove said. “There is something called the American Dream and people around the world want to share in it. Never lose sight this is the greatest country in the history of the world.”

“We’re a nation in trouble,” Clark said. “We need new ideas, and we need new leadership for America.”

Links to the Video of the Debate after the Jump

What price truth?

By Ernest Dumas, Arkansas Times l Published: July 10, 2008

The worst aspect of this race for president is that it bears out John Milton's maxim that truth comes into the world a bastard, heaping ignominy upon those who dare to speak it.

Gen. Wesley Clark can attest to that. He uttered a line so unassailably true that John McCain himself would not deny its truth. Clark said that merely being shot down while flying a Navy plane in wartime did not qualify a person to be president. In fact, McCain had said as much in the past. But Clark has been so pilloried for the remark that Sen. Barack Obama had to criticize him and the general, a true war hero himself, was taken off the list of potential vice presidential candidates.

Clark had just finished praising McCain's courage and long service to the country and counted him one of his personal heroes but when his questioner noted that Obama had not flown a plane that was shot down Clark replied that it was true but that McCain's misfortune and heroic ordeal did not qualify him for president.

But Clark is not the first to be scorched by having the nerve to tell the plain truth, even if inadvertently. That was the case when Charlie Black, the lobbyist/publicist who advises McCain, told an interviewer that national security was McCain's best issue and when he was asked if another attack like 9/11 would help McCain he replied that undoubtedly it would. That is an article of faith for everybody, Democrats and Republicans alike, because the assumption is that terrorism would rise to the top of everyone's agenda again and people would rest their faith in the tough guy. Rationally, people should react just the opposite — it would show that the Republicans have not made us any safer — but that is not the common thinking. Black merely repeated the conventional wisdom. He apologized for his truthfulness and McCain repudiated him. You won't hear from Charlie Black again.

There was no dishonor but plenty of ignominy when Bill Clinton said Barack Obama's primary victory in South Carolina was not a shock because, after all, Rev. Jesse Jackson had carried the state, too. It was a simple statement of fact that it was the same large African-American vote that carried Obama to victory. But it was characterized as a denigration of the African-American candidate and it did untold harm to Clinton's own reputation and to his wife's candidacy.

Same with Geraldine Ferraro's famous remark that much of the excitement around the Obama campaign arose from his race. That is an indisputable fact that Obama's earnest admirers have no trouble admitting. But Ferraro was banished forever.

The list goes endlessly on.

At least General Clark did not apologize. A real tough guy who has told the truth would not.

New York Times | July 4, 2008

Rove’s Third Term

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Al Gore never claimed that he invented the Internet. Howard Dean didn’t scream. Hillary Clinton didn’t say she was staying in the race because Barack Obama might be assassinated. And Wesley Clark didn’t impugn John McCain’s military service.

Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary, titled his tell-all memoir “What Happened.” But a true account of modern American politics should be titled “What Didn’t Happen.” Again and again we’ve had media firestorms over supposedly revealing incidents that never actually took place.

The latest fake scandal fit the usual pattern as an awkwardly phrased remark, lifted out of context and willfully misinterpreted, exploded across the airwaves.

What General Clark actually said was that Mr. McCain’s war service, though heroic, didn’t necessarily constitute a qualification for the presidency. It was a blunt but truthful remark, and not at all outrageous — especially given the fact that General Clark is himself a bona fide war hero.

Yet the Clark affair did reveal something important — not about General Clark, but about Mr. McCain. Now we know what a McCain administration would represent: namely, a third term for Karl Rove.

It was predictable that the McCain campaign would go wild over the Clark remarks. Mr. McCain’s run for the White House has always been based on persona rather than policy: he doesn’t have ideas that voters agree with, but he does have an inspiring life story — which, contrary to the myth of the modest maverick, he talks about all the time. The suggestion that this life story isn’t relevant to his quest for office was bound to provoke a violent reaction.

But the McCain campaign went beyond condemning General Clark’s remarks; it went out of its way to distort them. “This backhanded slap against John as not being a worthy warrior because he just got shot down is one of the more surprising insults in my military history,” said retired Col. Bud Day, who participated in a conference call organized by the campaign. In fact, General Clark had said no such thing.

WorldNetDaily | July 4, 2008

The relevance of being shot down

By BILL PRESS

It's only July, but already we know the rules of this year's presidential campaign. Actually, they're the same rules that apply every election: You can say anything you want about the Democratic candidate, but you have to treat the Republican candidate with kid gloves.

In 2000, for example, you could accuse Al Gore of taking bribes from China, but you could not question George Bush's use of cocaine. In 2004, it was fine to smear John Kerry's war record, but forbidden to wonder why George Bush never showed up for National Guard duty.

Here we go again. In 2008, it's OK to suggest, as conservative bloggers do daily, that Barack Obama is a gay, American-hating, chain-smoking Muslim. But not OK to suggest that just because John McCain was shot down and spent six years in the Hanoi Hilton does not, in itself, qualify him to be president. Unfortunately, Gen. Wesley Clark learned that lesson the hard way.

Appearing on CBS's "Face the Nation," Clark began by praising McCain's military service, calling him a "hero" for the courage he showed as a prisoner of war. However, Clark correctly pointed out, donning the uniform alone does not make the wearer presidential timber. In choosing a president, what's important is the judgment that a candidate has shown and his experience in making executive decisions.

Host Bob Schieffer persisted. Didn't his being shot down give McCain an advantage over Obama? Whereupon Gen. Clark gave his now-famous answer: "Well, I don't think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president."

Ironically, Clark didn't say anything John McCain hadn't already said himself. I've heard him, several times, entertain audiences with the same self-deprecating, joke: "It doesn't take a lot of talent to get shot down. I was able to intercept a surface-to-air missile with my own airplane."

But for his comment, Clark was not only condemned by the McCain campaign, he was thrown under the bus by his own candidate. Why? Clark did nothing wrong. He merely told the truth. Yes, we honor every man and woman who wears the uniform. We especially honor those who are shot down and taken prisoner. But that doesn't mean they're all qualified to be president.

Again, what counts is judgment. How much judgment did John McCain show when he suggested it would be OK for American forces to remain in Iraq another 100 years? When he opposed the latest version of the GI Bill? When he supported the CIA's continued use of waterboarding? When he condemned the Supreme Court's granting prisoners at Guantanamo Bay the right to challenge their confinement in civilian court "one of the worst decisions in the history of this country." Some former fighter pilots might have shown better judgment on those issues. This one did not.

The way Gen. Clark was treated was unfair. But what's more unfair is the double standard applied to Democratic and Republican candidates. Why is John McCain's military service out of bounds in 2008, when it was considered perfectly fair to challenge John Kerry's war credentials in 2004, or Max Cleland's in 2002?

Photos by REUTERS/Jim Bourg (UNITED STATES)

Democratic US presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) speaks as retired Army General Wesley Clark (R) listens during Obama's meeting with generals and other military flag officers at a military and foreign affairs round table discussion in Washington June 18, 2008.

Democratic US presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) speaks flanked by retired U.S. Army General Merrill 'Tony' McPeak (L) and retired Army General Wesley Clark (R) as he meets with generals and other military flag officers during a military and foreign affairs round table discussion in Washington June 18, 2008.

More photos are available here from AP

Roll Call (requires subscription) | June 11, 2008 | David M. Drucker

California: Clark: You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown

Looks like 4th district Democratic nominee Charlie Brown will be spending some extra time this summer with retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark, who ran for president in 2004.

Brown, a former police administrator and retired Air Force officer who ran for the 4th district seat in 2006, won an online contest called "Serve With the General," which is being sponsored by WesPAC, Clark's political action committee, and the Democratic advocacy group Democrats Work.

Consequently, Clark will be spending time in the solidly GOP district over the summer to participate in a community service project organized by Democrats Work. The project Clark will be working on has yet to be determined.

"This contest showed that there is a real hunger for grass-roots Democrats to put their values into action through service and to serve with General Clark," Democrats Work Executive Director Thomas Bates said in a statement. "We look forward to coming to the Fourth District to work with residents to show the community how Democrats get things done."

In winning the contest — in which 20,000 votes were cast — Brown beat out four other Democratic House candidates.

Brown faces state Sen. Tom McClintock (R) in November in the race to replace retiring Rep. John Doolittle (R).

General marches through town

Los Angeles Times | Tina Daunt | Staff Writer | November 16, 2007

RETIRED Gen. Wesley K. Clark, highly decorated and a Democrat, took Hollywood by storm four years ago when he ran for president. Now he's back, this time rallying the troops for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Clark has spent so much time on the Westside in recent weeks, between trips to Iowa and New Hampshire, that industry politicos (the few who aren't on the picket lines or worrying about them) have started rumors: Clark could be Clinton's running mate. Or maybe secretary of state.

Hollywood may be liberal, but it's always been a sucker for a man in uniform. Clinton could name Clark the emperor of all Cathay, for all they care. The fact that Clark has stepped back onto the political stage gives them something new to puzzle over. (And frankly, that whole Obama-Clinton thing had become a bit of a bore.)

During a trip through town last month, he called on the Democrats' Beverly Hills Medici, Ron Burkle. Burkle hosted a small gathering for the general in the foyer of his palatial Green Acres estate. Clark addressed the crowd, which included Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen and former Gov. Gray Davis, from the grand staircase.

Clark read from his new book ("A Time to Lead") and then lavished praise on the current Democratic front runner. "She's the most qualified candidate to lead this country," he said.

Clark seems so fresh and interesting, again, like Clint Eastwood emerging from a long respite in Carmel to return as an auteur.

"It's that strong chin, steely eyes and gray hair," said glitterati publicist Howard Bragman. "He's bright, enlightened, fairly progressive. It was like he was out of Central Casting. We thought, 'This is it, this is the kind of guy who can win.' "

Obviously, Clark didn't win four years ago. He didn't even come close. But there's no sense in holding that against him. (Martin Scorsese was nominated six times for an Oscar before he won, after all.) It's all about staying in the game.

Burkle said he believes that Clark, who served as the supreme allied commander of NATO during the Clinton administration, is an excellent ally for Hillary.

"In addition to his natural charisma, people are drawn to Gen. Clark's foreign-policy expertise," Burkle said.

"At a time when our country has been taken to war with no exit strategy, Wes is someone who has had a successful track record of conflict resolution," he said.