The Clark Legacy
The Clark campaign strikes me as the most interesting aspect of the 2004 campaign. Here was a man who, one year ago, was all but unknown, and who had never before run for office. He was able to raise an enormous amount of money, and, with a couple of breaks, might have been a contender for the nomination—remember that Clark was rising fast in New Hampshire in the days before the Iowa caucus, and a different result in Iowa might have produced a Clark win in the Granite State.
Along with Kerry’s emphasis on his Vietnam War conduct, the Clark candidacy marks a sea change in the attitude of the Democratic Party toward the military. The previous two Democratic presidential candidates to stress their military accomplishments—John Glenn in 1984 and Bob Kerrey in 1992—saw their candidacies fizzle. Neither senator, it turned out, was a very accomplished national candidate, but the legacy of Vietnam played a role in their difficulties—suspicion of overseas military activities was a key part of the post-Watergate Democratic Party. Kerry’s and (to a lesser extent) Clark’s success suggests a new era, one attributable, it seems to me, only partly to 9-11. Clinton foreign policy played a role here as well—actions such as Kosovo and Bosnia suggested that military operations could promote human rights, removing some of the reflexive anti-militarism that had characterized 1970s and 1980s Democratic foreign policy.