Fuller Warren, a long-ago Florida governor, famously defined a political draft as "three postcards from Blountstown," his home town. Wesley Clark (sounding Tuesday rather like a volunteer instead of a conscript) can point to a much broader draft than that. Still, conventional political wisdom holds that he enters the presidential race too late to accomplish anything beyond advertising himself as a potential running mate.
But of course conventional wisdom predicted Howard Dean to be running in the back of the Democratic field rather than at the head of it. So perhaps the really wise thing for everyone to do is to suspend judgment long enough to hear what Clark has to say.
His military accomplishments speak well for themselves, but the tablet is still blank in regard to how he would address the economy and other domestic concerns. Those issues, along with a detailed and credible plan for rectifying the mess that the current administration has made of Iraq and Afghanistan, will establish whether his candidacy is viable.
Politics frequently exemplifies how life is unfair. Sen. Bob Graham's presidential credentials are as good as those of any of other candidates, and better than most. Yet his campaign is starving for attention.
Much of the interest in Clark has to do, of course, with the unique challenge he poses to the Republican Party's reputation for superior competence in military and foreign affairs. President Bush, having relied too much on such press clippings and too little on sound advice, can hardly rejoice at the prospect of Clark in contention for the Democratic ticket or an assured spot in a Democratic Cabinet. Late or not, the general's candidacy is welcome tonic for the Democrats.
