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September 17, 2003

And Then There Were Ten...

Making official what many have assumed for some time, Wes Clark announced his candidacy for the presidency today. Although I confess it's tempting to poke fun at the myriad of Democrat candidates now in the field, I actually think it's a good thing for the party and for the country.

Granted the Democrats have some dismal offerings out there (Big Al, Carol "Highest Bidder" Mosley-Braun and Dennis "Bankruptcy" Kucinich spring to mind), but the number of candidates we now have to choose from provides a much wider range of possibilities than we've seen in many years. Granted, many of the candidates sound the same when they're on their main subject, how bad Bush is, but the policies each candidate would follow would represent a reasonably wide arc. From Gephardt's devotion to unions and protectionism to Joe Lieberman's mix of domestic socialism and American strength overseas, the real Democratic candidates offer a pretty broad spectrum of potential policies. (Granted, I don't think I'd like any of them, but having a wide variety of choices is still a pretty good thing for the electorate). And we have yet to see what Wes Clark will bring to the race, other than platitudes like "run[ning] a campaign that will move this country forward not back." (Thank God for that. I'm tired of candidates who keep talking about throwing the country into reverse.)

Unfortunately, the compressed primary schedule means that the actual race won't last much more than four to six weeks. Which is why, as annoying as it is, it will be a good thing if the media starts putting a little more focus on the candidates now, so people actually have an idea of where they stand on an issue other than President Bush's competence.