Gen. Wesley Clark says McCain lacks Command Experience

Ex-Democratic candidate Supports Obama

Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, a former Democratic presidential candidate is reaching out and supporting Barack Obama.  Yesterday, Clark said John McCain’s military service does not automatically qualify him to be commander in chief.

Underscoring during a national television appearance a position he has been expressing for several weeks, Clark said performing heroic military service is not a substitute for gaining command experience.

“In the matters of national security policy making, it’s a matter of understanding risk,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “It’s a matter of gauging your opponents and it’s a matter of being held accountable. John McCain’s never done any of that in his official positions. I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in the armed forces, as a prisoner of war.

“He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee and he has traveled all over the world, but he hasn’t held executive responsibility,” Clark said. “That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded — that wasn’t a wartime squadron.”

Moderator Bob Schieffer, who raised the issue by citing similar remarks Clark has made previously, noted that Obama hadn’t had those experiences nor had he ridden in a fighter plane and been shot down. “Well, I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president,” Clark replied.

In a March conference call with reporters while he was still backing Hillary Rodham Clinton, Clark said: “Everybody admires John McCain’s service as a fighter pilot, his courage as a prisoner of war. There’s no issue there. He’s a great man and an honorable man. But having served as a fighter pilot — and I know my experience as a company commander in Vietnam — that doesn’t prepare you to be commander in chief in terms of dealing with the national strategic issues that are involved. It may give you a feeling for what the troops are going through in the process, but it doesn’t give you the experience first hand of the national strategic issues.”

He reiterated that position last week in an article on The Huffington Post Web site.

“If Barack Obama’s campaign wants to question John McCain’s military service, that’s their right,” McCain spokesman Brian Rogers said after Clark’s appearance Sunday. “But let’s please drop the pretense that Barack Obama stands for a new type of politics. The reality is he’s proving to be a typical politician who is willing to say anything to get elected, including allowing his campaign surrogates to demean and attack John McCain’s military service record.”

The McCain Camp followed up saying that Clark’s comments ‘sad’ saying that Sen. Barack Obama has "become sort of a partisan hack" calling for Obama to condemn Clark’s comments

Sen. John McCain’s campaign on Monday called retired Gen. Wesley Clark’s remarks that McCain lacks command experience "the lowest form of politics."

Clark, a military adviser for Sen. Barack Obama, questioned Sunday whether McCain’s military experience qualified him to be commander in chief.

The McCain campaign has called on Obama to condemn the comments.

"I think it’s kind of sad," McCain campaign manager Rick Davis said Monday on CNN’s "American Morning."

"I think all the promise that Barack Obama made about trying to change the political dynamic and run a different kind of campaign is evidenced by the fact that he’s completely changed his political strikes and become sort of a partisan hack."

Davis added, "Sending Wesley Clark out as a surrogate for your campaign and attacking John McCain and his war record and his military experience and his service is, I think, just the lowest form of politics."

The dust-up began Sunday on CBS’ "Face the Nation" when moderator Bob Schieffer asked Clark about a recent interview with the Huffington Post Web site in which the general called McCain "untested and untried."

Clark said he was referring to McCain’s experience, or lack thereof, in setting national security policies and understanding the risk involved in such matters.

"I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in the armed forces as a prisoner of war. And he has traveled all over the world. But he hasn’t held executive responsibility," said Clark, a former NATO commander who campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004.

"He hasn’t been there and ordered the bombs to fall. He hasn’t seen what it’s like when diplomats come in and say, ‘I don’t know whether we’re going to be able to get this point through or not,’ " Clark said.

Schieffer noted that Obama did not have any of those experiences either nor he has he "ridden in a fighter plane and gotten shot down."

"Well, I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president," Clark said.

McCain spent more than five years as a prisoner of war after being shot down during the Vietnam War.

The McCain campaign responded quickly to Clark’s remarks with a statement Sunday afternoon.

"If Barack Obama wants to question John McCain’s service to his country, he should have the guts to do it himself and not hide behind his campaign surrogates," retired Adm. Leighton "Snuffy" Smith said in the statement.

"If he expects the American people to believe his pledges about a new kind of politics, Barack Obama has a responsibility to condemn these attacks.