Wes Clark: George Bush - a Rookie Pitcher
George Bush reminds me of a rookie pitcher who thinks he's got a no-hitter going in the 7th inning, and he's just trying to skate through so the loss can be given to the relief that's coming in. (scattered laughter) And I look at Iraq, and I'm so filled with admiration for the men and women in uniform. They're, they're doing such a great job there.
(applause)
But it's not about the military. It's about the political. And it's not only about the political in Iraq. It's about the political here at home, and that's what I want to talk a little about today.
In the last year I've traveled all over the world. I've been in Asia, in China. I've been in the Middle East three times - Dubai, Qatar, Saudi Arabia twice. I've been in Turkey. I've been in Eastern Europe - Ukraine, Estonia. I've been in Scandinavia - Finland, Denmark. Been in Central Europe in Netherlands and in Italy three or four times. I've been in England a couple of times. Been in, in, in the Caribbean and in Panama twice.
Everywhere people love what America stands for. They respect Americans. They love us as people. They've read what we say we believe in. They just don't understand where we are. They're asking themselves, 'Where is America?' on issues like global development when we can't figure out how to take care of American farmers without penalizing tens of millions of people living at the subsistence level all around the world who can't do anything but agriculture. So, we've got the Doha round of trade talks tied up. They're asking how sincere is our commitment to alleviating world poverty. They're looking at how we're doing on global warming. They, they've heard Vice President Gore. It's, he's done fabulous job. Hasn't he?
(applause)
And they're asking then, then why is it that at every international foundation and forum, the official U.S. position is to block forward movement on issues of global warming, quarrel with the data, disagree with mandatory controls, push timelines back, argue, argue, argue, stall, stall, stall. Where is America?
They're looking at the enormous changes taking place in Asia, the coming together of the Shanghai Cooperation Council between China and Russia and the Stans, the meeting of the Presidents, the heads of state of Asian governments. They're saying, 'Where's the United States in this?' What- Where, where is America? 'You're the largest economic power in the world. You're not participating in this?' And the answer's, 'Well, I guess you know we've been really caught up in other things, (scattered laughter) and we didn't play.' We're not there.
I go to the Middle East. I look at this enormous outflow of wealth coming created by oil and the development of liquified natural gas opportunities and the outflows of investments in the burgeoning economies in India and China. And where's the United States in all this? What are we doing in that equation? And when I travel, they ask me, they say, 'Well look, you know, the biggest cause of terrorism, the thing that we're most worried about is that you Americans haven't done your duty in trying to bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
(applause)
And oh, by the way, they get around to mentioning Iraq too. (laughter) Not one of them, not one, no statesman, no scholar, no businessman has come to me and said, 'What you Americans did in Iraq, you know, getting rid of Saddam Hussein, thank you very much. Come and do it to my country!'
(laughter)
They're, they love what we stand for. They don't understand where we are. When it comes to protecting human rights, they listen to our rhetoric and they say, 'But what about Abu Ghraib and then what's this about your Vice President and these Presidential commissions and this secret rendition program. Where is America? Where's the America that we thought we knew when we visited your country, went to school there, sent our children there, were in hospitals there? Where is America? We love America.'
I've traveled across this country a lot. I did, I did 26 states for the 2006 election cycle, about 86 districts and, and, and states there campaigning for people, and I'm in business and I'm back and forth five days a week, and I meet everybody from mayors and governors down to just people who sit next to me on regional jets or come up to me in airports. And we're a great country. I love America, and I know you do too. That's why you're here.
And some people in America have never had it so good, but I'm asking myself why is it in Arkansas that we have to get 40 dentists together to give free dental care down in Robinson Auditorium in Little Rock and there's 1000 people in line, most of whom can't get treated that day, and women come out and say, 'You know, I'm 30 years old. I can't afford to have my teeth fixed. Thanks. They extracted this tooth, and...' This is the wealthiest country in the world, and people are, people are losing teeth. They can't get dental care. We've got nine million children who aren't covered by health insurance, and President Bush wants to veto the legislation which is going to bring them under the states' children's health insurance program, because we're going to put a 68 cent additional tax on a package of cigarettes. Where is America? What do we stand for as a nation?
People come up to me and they say, I-I ask people a lot, "What do you think the biggest problem is?" Of course, everyone says Iraq first, but then they say, but- jobs. You know, we're working two jobs, three jobs. It's a great thing Americans have a lot of energy, but we're working a lot of (laughter), we're working a lot of low paid, paying jobs and can't, we can't get- seem to move up. We're just treading water and hoping we can get our kids into college and pay off the loans and not go bankrupt and the car doesn't break down this month and we're just struggling to stay alive out there in the greatest country in the world. And speaking of energy, why is it that we can't have a sensible policy that takes America toward energy independence?