One to watch amidst Democratic hopefuls

On Wednesday, retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark announced he’d be joining the crew of hopefuls for… On Wednesday, retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark announced he’d be joining the crew of hopefuls for the Democratic nomination for president, bringing the total to 10.

Clark has never held office and has as much as a two-year fund-raising gap between himself and his competitors, but he merits notice – as an anomaly, and as a realistic possibility.

He’s a four-star general with diplomatic experience who graduated first in his class at West Point, yet he’s vocally opposed the war in Iraq and has been criticizing the continued occupation thereof. Other than John Kerry, he’s the only hopeful with any military experience.

A Rhodes Scholar, he was awarded the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. He also holds honorary Dutch and British knighthoods.

Clearly, he’s a bright man, but not one who has articulated a plan for the nation. He criticized Bush for the deficit, the sour economy and issues of national security and civil liberties – yet he’ll only say that his ideas are forthcoming in a major speech in the coming weeks.

He’s got the implicit endorsement of Bill Clinton – still greatly beloved by many Democrats. Clinton said the Democratic party had two stars; his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Clark. This could hurt Clark’s credibility, however, from those still smarting from the blush of scandal brought by Clinton.

Clark seems to lack the perceived extreme liberalism of Howard Dean – whether Dean truly is uber-liberal is up for discussion, but he’s seen as such. He also lacks the funding Dean has been garnering.

Grass-roots buzz surrounds Clark. He’s got the cachet of having been asked by his supporters to run, as opposed to asking for people to support him. This certainly demonstrates faith in the man on the part of his supporters.

With no history as an elected official, Clark has no voting record. He can’t demonstrate his ideologies in practice, but he also can’t be criticized for hypocritical or unpopular votes.

Clark, while adding to an already clogged pool of mostly unremarkable potential candidates for the wounded Democratic Party nomination, seems to merit close attention as primary races heat up.