The start of the Clark firestorm was discussed yesterday here. (Video of Clark's comments at that link)
I just wrote about a piece done by the assistant editor of The New Republic, James Kirchick, showing that it isn't the McCain campaign and surrogates that are "smear mongerers" it has been the Obama campaign and his surrogates, to which the article lists many of those types of comments from Obama's campaign surrogates and shows that Clark's was just the latest in a long list of these type of comments.
Now I see that the whole Clark issue isn't going away anytime soon and is knocking Obama off message.
John McCain said Tuesday that Barack Obama should cut ties with retired Gen. Wesley Clark, who caused a stir over the weekend when he dismissed McCain’s military service as a qualification for the presidency.
Clark is a national security adviser and high-profile surrogate for Obama. On Sunday, Clark — who was also NATO commander under President Clinton — said of McCain: “I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president.”
He stood by his remarks Tuesday, though he stressed that Obama had nothing to do with them. Obama later downplayed the issue, saying he doesn’t think the comment keeps voters “up at night.”
But McCain told reporters on his campaign plane Tuesday evening that “I think it is up to Senator Obama now to not only repudiate him but to cut him loose.”
Of course MoveOn.org, not learning from the last time they attempted to smear a member of our military (General Petraeus that time) and ended up being condemned and denounced by both the Senate and Congress in written resolutions, has decided to jump into this fray, which is guaranteed to backfire again, this time right on Obama.
Read the whole thing but one specific comment in that article from retired Marine Lt. Col. Orson Swindle, brings us to the heart of Barack Obama's incompetence:
Swindle, who was also a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, said Clark “ought to be ashamed of himself,” and suggested Obama’s handling of the issue shows “he can’t even lead his surrogates. He’s not going to do a good job of being commander in chief.”
Obama cannot control his surrogates and continues to have his "messages" derailed by them and either he really doesn't want them to stop, depsite his campaign issuing a statement saying they "rejected" Clark's comments, or even worse... Obama cannot get them to stop because they do not respect him enough to listen.
Either option puts Barack Obama in a very bad light.
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