Clark Lashes Out At Bush On Mishandling

Clark Lashes out at Bush on Mishandling of Iraq

US presidential candidate Wesley Clark called the Iraq war a “$150 billion mess” on Tuesday, in his harshest condemnation of the Bush administration’s handling of the war so far. Clark’s more focused attack on the Republicans on the issue of the war may be his response to Gore’s endorsement of Howard Dean on Tuesday. Gore must think that the Iraq situation is Bush’s Achilles Heel, and that Dean has the best credentials (having opposed the war all along) to make good use of that vulnerability. Clark’s position (like my own) is more complicated and therefore harder to communicate to voters Clark is therefore doing what I suggested in November, which is attacking the Bush team on their handling of the aftermath of the war, which sidesteps the issue of the war itself. My estimation is that Clark would be more likely to beat Bush than Dean, but that Clark entered the race too late, and lacks the money and grassroots organization that Dean has.