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American Morning

Candidate Clark

Aired September 17, 2003 - 08:33   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Soledad, one writer has come to know Wesley Clark is Joshua Green, senior editor of "The Atlantic Monthly." He spent nine months with the general as he weighed that decision to run. And Joshua is with us live in D.C. to talk more about it.
Good morning to you.

JOSHUA GREEN, "THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY": Good morning.

HEMMER: Why did this decision take so long to make?

GREEN: Well, I think it was partly that Clark knew that he wanted to be president, wasn't sure if he wanted to go through it. It made a lot of sense from his perspective to wait a little bit until candidates -- until voters got to know all the other candidates. No one had really emerged from the pack yet. You know, most voters still haven't made up their mind. Even most Democratic voters can't identify all the candidates. So I think he felt there was still a lot of time for him to come in and win the nomination.

HEMMER: As you're trailing him, did you know which way he was leaning?

GREEN: He's a very, very hard man to read.

HEMMER: Good poker face, huh?

GREEN: Yes, he's very good at that. He clearly wanted the job, but I wouldn't have been able to guess one way or the other. I was pleased, but surprised to hear the announcement.

HEMMER: Explain for us a few of these descriptions. Thin- skinned, arrogant, a love-hate military relationship. How do those measure up?

GREEN: Well, those sound like terms that his critics would use to describe him. And Clark was always a polarizing figure in the military. He was always first in his class, one of the finest officers, and I think that bred a lot of jealousy.

But he's also known for being a bit thin-skinned, for holding a grudge. He demands a lot of himself and he demands a lot from other people. So I think that's probably where that reputation comes from.

HEMMER: Joshua, we know the military background. How will he experience sate, do you believe, for what critics say is a lack of domestic experience outside the military? GREEN: Well, I think you heard it in the video clip you just ran of Clark, which is he's going to try to draw on his leadership experience in the Army, and point out that he had to grapple with many of the same things, health care, education, even things like racial integration, as a commander in the Army, that, you know, a U.S. president would have to do.

HEMMER: You say he wants to be president. Would he take a VP position? Would he be on, essentially, the political undercard for the White House?

GREEN: I mean, this is true of Clark on just about everything. He won't show his hand on that one. I think he desperately badly wants to be president. I think he can go out -- I think he thinks he can go out and win the nomination. If he can't, it wouldn't surprise me to see him agree to be someone's VP. There was talk he might be Dean's vice president, because he is very strong on military and national security affairs, which is a subject on which the Democratic Party has been weak for the last 30 years. So he really does bring something to the other candidates, if he doesn't win the nomination himself, and still wants to move forward in political life.

HEMMER: One more question for you on this. You know how this whole thing developed as a grassroots campaign that essentially sucked him into this campaign. Earlier in the week, and I don't think I'm betraying anything here, he told us here at AMERICAN MORNING that it felt weird right now, weird the way this thing has just gained steam over the years -- over the months, I should say. Is he an accidental candidate from the position he's in right now?

GREEN: No, I don't think so. I think that the draft Clark movement is legitimate and as big as it's become was a convenient rationale for Clark to jump into the race. He clearly wanted to do it anyway. I think he planned to do it. I certainly think it helped him make up his mind in the direction that he did. But I wouldn't call him an accidental candidate by any measure.

HEMMER: Joshua Green, thanks. "Atlantic Monthly," number 10 now on the Democratic side with General Clark.

GREEN: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired September 17, 2003 - 08:33   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Soledad, one writer has come to know Wesley Clark is Joshua Green, senior editor of "The Atlantic Monthly." He spent nine months with the general as he weighed that decision to run. And Joshua is with us live in D.C. to talk more about it.
Good morning to you.

JOSHUA GREEN, "THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY": Good morning.

HEMMER: Why did this decision take so long to make?

GREEN: Well, I think it was partly that Clark knew that he wanted to be president, wasn't sure if he wanted to go through it. It made a lot of sense from his perspective to wait a little bit until candidates -- until voters got to know all the other candidates. No one had really emerged from the pack yet. You know, most voters still haven't made up their mind. Even most Democratic voters can't identify all the candidates. So I think he felt there was still a lot of time for him to come in and win the nomination.

HEMMER: As you're trailing him, did you know which way he was leaning?

GREEN: He's a very, very hard man to read.

HEMMER: Good poker face, huh?

GREEN: Yes, he's very good at that. He clearly wanted the job, but I wouldn't have been able to guess one way or the other. I was pleased, but surprised to hear the announcement.

HEMMER: Explain for us a few of these descriptions. Thin- skinned, arrogant, a love-hate military relationship. How do those measure up?

GREEN: Well, those sound like terms that his critics would use to describe him. And Clark was always a polarizing figure in the military. He was always first in his class, one of the finest officers, and I think that bred a lot of jealousy.

But he's also known for being a bit thin-skinned, for holding a grudge. He demands a lot of himself and he demands a lot from other people. So I think that's probably where that reputation comes from.

HEMMER: Joshua, we know the military background. How will he experience sate, do you believe, for what critics say is a lack of domestic experience outside the military? GREEN: Well, I think you heard it in the video clip you just ran of Clark, which is he's going to try to draw on his leadership experience in the Army, and point out that he had to grapple with many of the same things, health care, education, even things like racial integration, as a commander in the Army, that, you know, a U.S. president would have to do.

HEMMER: You say he wants to be president. Would he take a VP position? Would he be on, essentially, the political undercard for the White House?

GREEN: I mean, this is true of Clark on just about everything. He won't show his hand on that one. I think he desperately badly wants to be president. I think he can go out -- I think he thinks he can go out and win the nomination. If he can't, it wouldn't surprise me to see him agree to be someone's VP. There was talk he might be Dean's vice president, because he is very strong on military and national security affairs, which is a subject on which the Democratic Party has been weak for the last 30 years. So he really does bring something to the other candidates, if he doesn't win the nomination himself, and still wants to move forward in political life.

HEMMER: One more question for you on this. You know how this whole thing developed as a grassroots campaign that essentially sucked him into this campaign. Earlier in the week, and I don't think I'm betraying anything here, he told us here at AMERICAN MORNING that it felt weird right now, weird the way this thing has just gained steam over the years -- over the months, I should say. Is he an accidental candidate from the position he's in right now?

GREEN: No, I don't think so. I think that the draft Clark movement is legitimate and as big as it's become was a convenient rationale for Clark to jump into the race. He clearly wanted to do it anyway. I think he planned to do it. I certainly think it helped him make up his mind in the direction that he did. But I wouldn't call him an accidental candidate by any measure.

HEMMER: Joshua Green, thanks. "Atlantic Monthly," number 10 now on the Democratic side with General Clark.

GREEN: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com