Clark Has Not Paid Dues (10/23/03)
by Dean Hartwell
General Wesley Clark has no business running for the Democratic nomination. The best thing he can do for the party would be to withdraw from the race.
The reason is simple: he has not paid his dues.
Al Gore paid his dues before seeking the presidential nomination of the party. At the age of 28, he won election as a Democrat to the United States House of Representatives. He then served eight years in each of the House, the Senate and the Vice Presidency.
Bill Clinton paid his dues. Long before he served twelve years as the Democratic governor of Arkansas, he volunteered for Gene McCarthy’s 1968 presidential bid and chaired the George McGovern presidential campaign in Texas four years later.
Michael Dukakis also paid his dues. He attended the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. Later, he served as the Democratic governor of Massachusetts for twelve years.
What has General Clark been up to in the years before his run for the presidency?
He voted for Richard Nixon.
He voted for Ronald Reagan.
And, more recently, he gave a speech (in 2001) in which he praised Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Vice-President Dick Cheney and President Bush as a “great team.” (See http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/6634.htm)
All of the recent presidential candidates registered as Democrats long before they decided to run for office. When did General Clark join the party? After he threw his hat into the ring for the presidency.
The Democratic Party doesn’t need a Wesley-come-lately to head its ticket in 2004. Instead, it needs a candidate who has given something of him or herself to the party. The other candidates still in the race can all claim party registration and party loyalty.
Democratic voters deserve a candidate they can rely on to deliver the Democratic message. In the primaries, they should select from one of the other choices and send a real Democrat to face President Bush.