So it's all but official that Wesley Clark is joining the race for the Democratic nomination for President. Perhaps by the time anyone reads this it'll be completely official. Seems like this might be a guy for people to get excited about - I know I am. So far, Dean has been the only somewhat decent candidate for the D side, since Lieberman is a fuck and I hate Kerry.

Clark has some mad street cred - I think he's got everyone beat in the leadership and foreign relations departments. The quote in that Guardian article that he's an "expert in only one piece of the presidency" may be true, but that means he's already better off than Bush was when he was installed. He's probably still got Bush beat; it's all the people around Bush who have any sort of clue (which isn't looking like much as time passes). Someone who was supreme commander of NATO may go a long way towards repairing our damaged relations with our allies, and he may be able to steer the war on terrorism in a more effective direction.

I could be wrong, but I don't really get the feeling that most Americans care much about foreign policy. Or at least, they don't seem to know shit about it (this coming from me, who knows shit about it). It's all going to come down to domestic policy, and more specifically, the economy. If the economy is still shit - at least in terms of job growth - by this time next year, then a Democrat may have a chance. If Clark is going to get that nomination, he's going to have to pull together a solid economic package. Or, at least solid enough bullshit that people will buy into.

We'll see how it goes, and I'm looking forward to it. Maybe I wasn't just getting ahead of myself a couple of days ago - we may have a serious election next year after all.