From Houtopia

Clark has grown immensely as a public political figure since his novice run two years ago for the world's highest office. His deep understanding of public policy and commitment to this country have always been evident; it's the delivery that has improved. He is still a work in progress, but definitely on the right track.

Clark writes his own speeches, and the lyric is mostly of good quality. What has changed about his performance is how much more comfortable he is in his own skin these days before audiences large and small. Serious policy fare is now peppered with appropriate political red meat, and accented with a light, humorous touch that reveals a warm, regular guy underneath that formal military bearing.

American politics is often derided as a popularity contest. That's probably an over-simplification, but there is no doubt personality matters to voters. Just look at the current White House occupant. Serious wonks and insiders love to pillory George W. Bush as an incurious, incompetent bumbler, but noone can deny his keen understanding of the importance of connecting with voters on a basic personal level. Despite his privileged upbringing and life, Bush (with Karl Rove's help) successfully sold himself as an everyman to an unwitting American electorate -- to the country's great detriment.

Wes Clark now seems to be finding a balanced recipe for sucess in 2008 -- the sober, thoughtful approach to public policy he has always shown and that we so desperately need today, complimented by a likeable, accessible persona to reach those who are not yet (if ever) scratching beneath the surface.

The question is, of course, will Clark make another run for the White House? For now he's adopted an interested, if coy attitude. It is early, after all, and the field is fluid. Given the problems we face and the frankly lackluster group of current contenders, we sure hope he's in.

From Anita on Clark Community Network

Wes was terrific

In 2004, my husband and I attended the TX Dem Conv as delegates. This time we went for the pure pleasure of seeing and hearing Wes Clark give one of his speeches.

I purposely did not take notes, because I wanted to concentrate on what he was saying and how the audience was reacting. I think most of us have heard many of things he was bringing to the Texas audience; he did, indeed, stress the MOST important thing we can do for the 2006 candidates is donate to their campaigns....

In his floor speech, he received many standing ovations; so much so, some of his speech was drowned out by applause and hollering (we holler in TX, you know). My husband and I were sitting in the balcony in the back of the hall, facing the podium. The podium was center stage; there were two huge screens, positioned on either side of the podium. It was Wes Clark in surround sound.

The Meet and Greet that was to be held before his giving his speech was scheduled for just after his speech. As he left the stage, many in the audience left also, including my husband and I and a few others in our section. We made it down to the caucus room ahead of Wes. What had started out earlier in the day as one small conference room was opened up to include at least three other rooms. By the time Wes got there, it was standing room only within the room and outside in the hallway. We were seated at the back of the room and I could see when Wes came down the hall. He looked like a Pied Piper. He was trailing people!

Many in that breathtaking crowd were being exposed to Wes Clark for the first time. One gentleman I knew came because he just wanted to shake Wes' hand. His day was completely made when Wes shook his hand as he came into the room. Hearing Wes' speech and seeing him at the Meet and Greet was just icing on the cake for this gentleman. I was really proud to see how happy he was.

At the Wes Clark Caucus earlier in the day, I really expected to see some of the Old-timers (Clarkies who worked on the 2003-2004 campaign). There was a good amount of Clarkies there; but the majority of the crowd, from my vantage point, were over 50. And they were extremely interested in whether or not Wes was going to run and what his stance was on certain issues.

Kathy Oefinger, Bob Gammage, and (I can't remember the other fellow's name. He is with TX WesPac) did a terrific job trying to answer these VERY serious questions. Kathy did a superb job of directing those interested to the Clark04 site, to the Issues section and then to the Securing America's Future site. I noticed many in the audience were writing down these links. (There are many still out there who DO NOT KNOW about Wes' website.

One thing I would like to say here....and my husband and I talked about this on the long ride back home today.....the OPENNESS of this convention. You did not have to be a delegate to get in to this convention to hear some pretty terrific speakers. All you had to do is come in the door, sign in as a guest or whatever, and there you were. You were totally free to sit in on some really good conferences. If there was security there; i.e., uniformed security walking the hallways, we didn't see any.

It was a colorful mixture of people...... it's always a wonder to behold to see all these fellow citizens, gathering in a hall, to learn how to keep our Democracy intact.