General Clark says he'd relieve Rumsfeld of his command

General Clark says he'd relieve Rumsfeld of his command
By JAMES W. PINDELL and SAM YOUNGMAN
PoliticsNH.com

NEW CASTLE, Sept. 27 -- Gen. Wesley Clark, told a New Hampshire audience Friday night he had only fired one person in his life. On Saturday he said he wanted to fire a second person: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

When asked at a house party on the Seacoast about what he would do in Iraq if elected president today, he was met with applause when he said, "First of all I would change the Secretary of Defense. Then I would go to the commanders of the ground and go to Iraq myself personally and I would develop an exit strategy that gives us a success and lets us downsize our commitment there."

Besides Rumsfeld, Clark also criticized Bush's National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice for her views of the world and then U.S. House Majority Leader Tom Delay, also a Republican, for his vote on a measure involving Kosovo.

"So when I got out of the military and into business I looked at both parties," Clark explained to the crowd on why he was a Democrat. "I talked to Condoleeza Rice right away. I found out I didn't like her view on foreign policy. She said American troops shouldn't do peacekeeping they should do real fighting. But she is an academic, what does she know? I've been on the front lines. I tried to explain it to her. She let me know she was going to be in charge. And I spoke out on the election campaign on what we are trying to do on behalf of Bosnia and the Balkans and so forth. And when I went home to Arkansas I was in business and I wanted to meet both sides. The Republicans came to me and said 'Hey we would like for you to speak at our Lincoln Day fund-raiser. I said I am not going to be there for Lincoln Day. They said 'General we'll hold Lincoln Day whenever you can get here.' So I did. I spoke to about 450 Republicans there at Embassy Suites. I was non-partisan. I basically praised Republicans for being Republicans. . . . But I knew what the Republican Party was like and I couldn't identify with that party. They are the party that when I was commanding in Kosovo, they were the party led by Tom Delay against our airman who were in the skies over Yugoslavia taking fire from Serb anti-aircraft and this party voted against them. They claimed they weren't. They claimed they were voting against just a policy, but I read what they said. They wanted the policy to fail. They didn't have a vision. They didn't understand what America was about. They put their interest of the party above the interest of the party. I'll never put the interest of the party above the interest of the country."

It should be noted that Clark only took questions after several in the crowd of about 70 verbally complained.

Traditionally in New Hampshire candidates attend house parties and briefly explain their platform and why they are running following by about 30-40 minutes of taking questions from the audience. Here Clark spoke for 20 minutes and quickly began shaking hands.

A Clark aide noted it was his first house party ever as a presidential candidate and didn't understand protocol and was not hiding from questions.

The house party in New Castle ended a two day trip to New Hampshire, his first trip since announcing he was in the presidential race.

Clark has been criticized by some of the other candidates for flip-flopping on issues during his 11-day-old candidacy, but

seemed to become more comfortable in his role with each stop.

"I never say the same thing every day," he told a supporter in New Castle. "I grow every day."

Earlier on Saturday Clark visited with patrons at Chez Vachon, a French-Canadian diner once adored by a candidate named Bill Clinton. After that he met with Manchester fire fighters and briefly discussed Homeland Security. On Monday the union representing New Hampshire fire fighters will formally endorse John Kerry's presidential campaign.

Arguably the biggest test for Clark came to his trip in Dover at lunchtime. Dover is the site of the only Draft Clark office in New Hampshire, where about 250 supporters from all over New England came to hear the General rally his troops and ask for support and explicitly for money.

At none of the events Sunday did Clark take questions from the media.

Terry Evans, of Windham, said she worked for Rep. Dick Gephardt in the early 1970s, but said Saturday afternoon that she was still undecided, but she was leaning toward Clark.

Evans said after the rally that Clark's position as a political newcomer and his NATO command were contributing factors in her swaying support, adding that "he's definitely the best looking candidate the Democrats have."
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James Pindell can be reached at: [email protected]