Damn straight. With Gen Wesley Clark hopping into the fray, it'll certainly take a lot of heat off Howard Dean by the other candidates and the press.
How? Dean's and Clark's ideologies are extremely similar on the big issues. What Dean has been lambasted over for being too liberal or too extreme in the past will be vindicated by the revelations of Clark's views.
Now I've said in the past that my concern over Clark is his experience in campaigning against the knives-and-knuckles gang of Rove and Co. As a result, I've been asked why I feel he can't govern. Whoa. It's apples and oranges.
We know deep down that he can govern. I overheard a conversation this morning at our favorite breakfast joint - some guys were wondering why the Democrats liked a four-star general so much if they're so anti-war.
Yipes. Where do I begin with THAT simplistic thoughtoid? Clark has to educate the masses from square one, that's obvious.
Folks, Clark was commander of NATO. Listen carefully: NATO isn't just military. It's schools, roads, government, justice - in essence, it's infrastructure. Clark's experience makes him EMINENTLY qualified. The concern: he just doesn't have a lot of experience in GETTING there in a nasty political campaign. And it will be nasty.
Dean has both the infrastructure experience AND the campaign experience - that's why I like him. He's ready to take it to Bush. He wants to. And he feels a strong calling to do so. Clark has just received the first tinge of his muse. It'll be fun to see how it all comes together.
So if the worst-case scenario for Team Dean is that it becomes a two-man race between Dean and Clark - I'll take it. Both these guys are pretty damned fine by me. And if both of them form a dream team when it all shakes out, Bush and his Team Crackhead better start checking the classifieds for new gigs and new digs.
The message from the Democrats will be - at long last - crystal-clear and powerful.
