Retired Gen. Wesley Clark backtracked Wednesday from comments suggesting he outranks Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts when it comes to a commitment to military service.
The two are the only military veterans in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination and both are seeking the support of veterans as they compete in the New Hampshire primary.
After Kerry’s victory Monday in the Iowa caucuses, Clark had said, “With all due respect, he’s a lieutenant and I’m a general. I’ve done all of the big leadership.”
On Wednesday at a VFW post in Portsmouth, Clark said he was trying to describe their “different paths of public service.”
“He pursued the path of elective politics, I pursued the path of staying in the armed forces,” Clark said. “My experience is in executive leadership. … I was in positions of authority where I actually had to bring people together, set tasks, motivate and supervise the accomplishment and achievement of objectives.”
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That, said Clark, is a leadership function required of the president. He acknowledged that both he and Kerry were junior officers in Vietnam and that both earned the Silver Star while there.
But when asked why voters should cast a ballot for Clark and not Kerry, Clark said people in Iowa split their vote Monday as they looked for someone who could handle national security affairs, go toe-to-toe in a race against President Bush and understand ordinary people.
“I’m that package all in one vote,” Clark said. “I’m a veteran. I’ve done leadership at the highest levels of government. I’m from the South. My mother was a secretary and I’m going to run well across this country and I can beat George W. Bush.”
–Jill Zuckman
THE PATRIOTS ACT
Politicians often act as if no one has longer coattails than a winning home sports team.
While Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts told a crowd in Nashua, N.H., that he is on their side against the prescription-drug companies, his daughter Vanessa sported a New England Patriots hat Wednesday, just so everyone in this key primary state knows whose side the Kerrys are on in the Super Bowl.
Kerry has invoked the Patriots to emphasize that he is going to win the nomination for “the Super Bowl of politics.”
Retired Gen. Wesley Clark donned a Patriots sweater last weekend when he joined fans to watch the team’s conference championship game Sunday.
Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina is sticking with his Carolina Panthers, who face the Patriots in the Super Bowl.
–Dan Mihalopoulos
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