Wes tells young progressives in Manhattan what's what
By Carol Kilyanek, A Wes Clark Democrat
Wes Clark appeared at the Taj Lounge in NYC last Wednesday for a “Road to the White House” event sponsored by young progressive group DL21C. I was fortunate enough to attend.
The house was packed. The wonderful Jon Soltz from VoteVets.org gave Wes a moving introduction. Wes spoke and took a number of questions and mingled with the crowd before and after he spoke. All in all a very nice night.
There are video clips floating around and I’m sure a full transcript will be available before too long but here are a few things I pulled from what he said that night.
On people in other countries having imagination, energy, good ideas, etc:
"We are living in a country that inhales oil and petrochemicals and exhales American jobs, technology and greenhouse gasses. We’re not gonna last that way.....We can’t be only a nation of consumers. My son even who’s a screenwriter in Hollywood and will always tell me, “Oh Dad, America’s greatest export is entertainment.” Listen, there are other competitors out there. There’s Bollywood and there’s a whole lot of other stuff. We’re not the only people in the world who have imagination and energy and good ideas and passion and commitment. We can’t believe that."
On what Bush has done to this country:
"We’ve got an arrogant President who took us into a war we didn’t have to fight. But, worse than that, he’s blinded us to who we are as Americans. He’s focused on tax cuts for the wealthiest. He’s encouraged the passage of laws and operated beyond the law, using scare tactics to frighten Americans into surrendering the very rights and freedoms that make us who we are as a people. Can you imagine that this is a country that actually condones torture? That would admit evidence gained by torture into a court of law, in which a President can ignore the law of the land as expressed by Congress by claiming exemption from the law in certain cases in a signing statement? That’s not the America I fought for in uniform. My country doesn’t torture!"
On America’s legitimacy:
"We must restore America’s legitimacy in the world.....not preemptive strike....(not) when America acts, we’re the only ones that are right, no one else counts, we don’t have to talk to anyone else....It starts with repealing the Military Commissions Act and the Detainee Treatment Act and replacing them. Get ‘em out of here. No torture, no indefinite confinement. It’s not America....."
On Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and the “disappeared”:
"We’ve got to get the facts out. Where did the ideas come from and what’s the chain of custody of those ideas, the chain of causation of those actions in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib and elsewhere, where were the secret prisons, what was done in our name during rendition and where are these people who’ve been disappeared from our custody from all around the world?"
On diplomacy:
"Diplomacy’s about creating a new vision in the region and we have to create that new vision working with people in the region starting with the Iraqis, the Saudis, the Iranians, the Kuwaitis, the Turks...all the people in that region. And including Israel. There has to be a new and better way for men and women and families to live in that part of the globe and prosper and meet their own dreams....."
On China:
"We’ll be knocking at their door in 15 years (China) beggin’ ‘em to sell us cell phones because theirs will be cheaper and better than what it’s economical to produce in the United States....China has a very ambitious program. It’s not anti-American. They just want their rightful place in the world as they see it."
On health care and a single payer system:
"We’ve got to take the burden of health care off of American business....We should take the CHIP program, we should take the Medicare program and move toward a single payer system that makes health care accessible to every American and affordable to every American."
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