The Bush 43 presidency has proven the overwhelming necessity of the "3 C's"--Character, Compassion, Competence--that should be required qualities of any person elected as president.
Any one of the current Democrats who have declared their presidential aspirations stand head & shoulders above POTUS 43 when it comes to these three traits.
There are other things that play a part in our quest to find the candidate who best meets the criterial of what we want in a president to be sure, but I truly believe that the "3 C's" are prime indicators of a person's core values.
This diary is about the Character, Compassion & Competence exhibited by one man who has yet to declare that he too has the desire to be our presidential nominee for '08--Wes Clark.
Compassion
Though my diary heading begins with Character, I have choosen to begin with Compassion because I have experienced first hand one example of Wes Clark's compassion.
On a Wednesday morning in January of 2005, my husband of almost 40 years died after a 6 year battle with debilitating cancer. Friday morning a FedX truck pulled into my driveway and delivered a massive bouquet of fresh cut lilies with a card attached from Wes & Gert Clark.
Why? He was not running for anything. There were no "points" to be scored.
But I was one of "his bloggers". I had been a blogger since his first site went up and my husband and I had supported him (with words not money as we had none to spare) from the draft onward.
Just this year I heard from someone who said that the first thing he said after being told of my husband's death was, "Get her contact information." Such a small thing, and yet, to me at least, so telling.
Samantha Power's book, A Problem From Hell in the chapter about Rwanda lays out pretty clearly Wes's attempts to get the genocide stopped.
She says,
"He frantically telephoned around the Pentagon for insight into the ethnic dimension of events in Rwanda. Unfortunately, Rwanda had never been of more than marginal concern to Washington's most influential planners"
She makes it clear that Wes was deeply concerned about the issue of genocide and human welfare long before he was made Supreme Allied Commander of Nato. This speaks of compassion on a much larger scale than my first example, but adds to the overall picture of where Wes Clark's heart lies when it comes to caring for and about others.
In a November 19, 2003 interview with Dan Rather for 60 Minutes there was discussion of some pictures from a book about the genocide that took place in the Balkans in 1992, followed by talk of the ethnic cleansing that had again started up in Kosovo in the summer of 1998. Near the end of that discussion this exchange took place.
DAN RATHER: ...Hearing you speak of this is the first time I've seen you speak with real emotion.
GEN. WESLEY CLARK: Yeah.
DAN RATHER: Deep-seated emotion. Tell me why that is?
GEN. WESLEY CLARK: Why? Because you're dealing with people's lives when you're dealing with things like this, Dan. This is about life and death. It's about the difference between academic theories and discussions of deterrence and prevention and preemption, and what the real impact is on the ground of U.S. actions.
And I don't think you can be a real statesman or a real leader and be-- can connect the two. Lots of people go to school and they study it. Lots of people on the ground. But there aren't enough linkages. It's easy when you're in the United States to depersonalize all that's happening over there.
And so we don't have an interest in it. You know, there were people in this case who said, "We don't have any interest here. I mean there's no oil. If there were oil here, we'd stop this." So we'd rather fight for oil than to save lives. I don't think so. I don't think that's what this country really believes or what we stand for. So I do get emotional about this. Because when you can do good, you should.
http://www.cbsnews.com/...
And in closing this section on Compassion, I offer the following from http://www.defenselink.mil/... from William S. Cohen at the time of the EUCOM change of command. (emphasis mine)
"In Gen. Wes Clark," Cohen told the audience, "America found a scholar, a soldier and a statesman -- a scholar who understands the forces of history on our time, a soldier of unquestioned courage ..., a statesman whose influence has been felt from the Americas where he helped to guide the fight against drug barons, to Dayton, where his counsel helped end the bloodletting in Bosnia."
Cohen praised Clark and the command for their part in NATO Operation Allied Force. He announced that he has proposed the creation of a Kosovo campaign medal. "No one should ever doubt either your service or your success," he said. "Faced with an adversary who manufactured a vicious, humanitarian nightmare, you responded with compassion and speed to relieve human suffering."
The secretary awarded Clark with his fifth award of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal. The award citation credited Clark with leading EUCOM through the entire spectrum of military operations from warfighting to peacekeeping to humanitarian relief.
Cohen also presented Clark's wife, Gertrude, with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Award for Distinguished Public Service. The award cited her for more than 30 years of volunteer service to the men, women and family members of America's armed forces and those of the nation's allies.
Character & Competence
Another snippet from the 60 Minute interview linked to above
DAN RATHER: If I ask you to say the one thing above all others, ‘This I believe.’ What would it be?
GEN. WESLEY CLARK: Oh, this I believe in: accountability, responsibility, performance of duty, dedication. That’s what I have built my life around in the United States armed forces. I believe, you know, I love my family and I love my church. I love my faith, but my profession has been a profession of arms, and it's been a profession of duty.
Accountability, responsibility, performance of duty, dedication.
Our country has suffered for the past 6 years under a "leadership" team that doesn’t know these words exist, much less know how to exibit the qualities that they describe.
I have watched and listened while Eric Massa, who served under General Clark, has described how much he respects and admires Wes Clark. Eric Massa is a man of honor. I have seen no reason to doubt his words.
Our own testvet6778 speaks highly of Clark based on his service under his command.
Duty, honor, country are not just words to those who have served our country in uniform. The oath they take to protect and serve has no expiration date.
Inspired by the words of John F. Kennedy as a young man, Wes Clark still asks what it is he can do for his country.
Over the years his country has responded:
-From the Award of the Silver Star, as presented to Capt. Clark after he was wounded in battle in Vietnam, February 26, 1970
"Major Clark is one of the most outstanding officers of his grade in the U.S. Army...an officer of impeccable character with a rare blend of personal qualities and professional attributes which uniquely qualify him as a soldier-scholar. While he has the intellectual grasp of world affairs attained only by the top scholars in the field, he projects soldierly qualities of strength, character, leadership, and above all an unyielding sense of personal responsibility. It is this sense of responsibility which clearly sets him apart from his contemporaries. [He] has the intellectual, moral and physical stamina, coupled with an unrelenting quest for excellence, which insures the completion of every task to near perfection. Major Clark's earnestness, sincerity of purpose and absolute dedication convey a moral force in his work which gives him a significant voice in this headquarters..."
And his "bosses" have commented:
-Brigadier General William W. Crouch, March 16, 1988
"Professional and moral attributes are impeccable. Strong in all areas. Best leader-thinker in the Army....a great leader who takes care of soldiers and families.... He has it all and has done it better than anyone else."
-General Edwin Burba, Jr., March 20, 1992
"Clark exhibits the best balance of professional ethics of any officer I know. Particularly noteworthy is his demonstrated selfless dedication to his men, his unit, and the Army. He exhibits absolute integrity of word, deed... he establishes and observes scrupulous ethical and moral standards."
-James T. Lynn, Director, Office of Management and Budget, July 8, 1976
"He is unquestionably one in a million. A professional whose perceptions are correct, whose plans are thorough and complete, whose executions are artistic, and whose success is inevitable....I have never been more impressed with an officer's talent and dedication. He should rank with men like Douglas MacArthur, Maxwell Taylor, Creighton Abrams..."
All quotes from http://securingamerica.com/...
Character, Compassion, Competence--they matter--and Wes Clark has them in spades.