Of all of the issues in this Presidential campaign to hang one's hat one, gay marriage would seem to be one guaranteed to draw fire from bother sides. A candidate will be both loved and hated, sometimes by the same people at the same time. Talk about going where angels fear to tread....
It has been more than 10 years since a Democrat from Little Rock, Ark., first took on the military’s ban on gay service members, winding up with a compromise that was quickly dubbed “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Now another Democrat from Little Rock is tackling that compromise, saying it clearly doesn’t work and must be dismantled. As president, Gen. Wesley Clark is prepared to fix what his former commander in chief, Bill Clinton, left broken.
In a testament to how much has changed in the decade since “don’t ask, don’t tell” was born, all nine of the Democratic presidential candidates who are currently elbowing their way across the country say the policy is discriminatory. But the 59-year-old Clark, a retired four-star gen- eral and former NATO commander, could be the only one with enough brass to make a difference. As Steve Rawls of the military watchdog group Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund explains, “Military leaders will have a lot of sway in convincing Congress to change the policy, and General Clark obviously has a lot of stature within the military community.”
But first The General, as his aides all refer to him, must win the nomination. To accomplish that, the campaign has a lot of work to do, admits spokesman Matt Bennett during a break from campaigning in New Hampshire in order to stump in New York City. “We’re running a 12-month campaign in nine months,” Bennett says.
Hey, I'm all for the idea of marriage- gay or otherwise, but that really isn't the point here. While I applaud Clark's willingness to face the issue, I'm just not sure what it does to get him closer to the ultimate goal of winning the Democratic nomination. In strictly (and cynically) political terms, gays are loathe to vote Republican. Why, then, give Republicans yet more ammunition with which to assail you?
Of course, Clark is doing what he feels is the right thing, and that is difficult to argue with. Again, I'm not at all certain what looking like a gay icon on the cover of Advocate magazine does to further his chances of winning the Democratic nomination.
