Alexis Glick: Retired Army General and ex-presidential candidate Wesley Clark is enlisting in the battle to go green. Today he becomes Co-Chair of Growth Energy, a consortium of ethanol producers, and he's joined the board of directors of clean energy provider Juhl Wind. Ironically, his new business interests could get a 100 billion dollar budget boost from President Obama while his old business, defense, faces budget cuts. Joining me in a First on Fox is General Wesley Cl-Clark. General, good to see you.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Thank you Alexsis. Good to be with you.

Alexis Glick: So, you've recently been appointed to the board of directors with Juhl Wind. You've also been an active Co-Chair with Growth Energy. Renewable energy has become a passion, a commitment. Tell me why.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, absolutely, because it's about energy independence for the United States and that's national security. It's about jobs. That's for our welfare. It's about a better environment, and it's about economic development particularly in rural America and the Midwest. And I want to talk for just a minute about ethanol, because we've worked- this is a brand new industry. It's taken- it's an American industry. It started 30 years ago. It's really taken off in the last five years. We're about to make the transition to cellulosic, and every year we're replacing hundreds of millions of barrels of imported oil from unstable countries elsewhere in the world with good American product. We've brought prosperity back into many towns across middle America. This is a great American success story, and it's getting ready to move to the next stage. That's what I'm happy to be part of.

Alexis Glick: You know, how concerned are you? A lot of people that we've talked to in the industry have suggested, listen, we go through the statistics daily about what it is that we're spending on importing oil from foreign countries, but when oil prices are lower the agenda slides down the table on the list of things to do, because people are not as concerned about it. Are you concerned that it does move too far down the list and that we don't take the appropriate measures now to prevent things from getting worse in the future?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I think we've got the national leadership and we've got the awareness of the American people now. We're not going to have a repeat of the 1980's. But also with respect to ethanol, I can tell you that, that all we really need is access to the markets. We've got some of the best entrepreneurs in America, some really smart technology companies. We're working genetic engineering, biotechnology. This is a cutting edge high-tech industry for American jobs and for American energy independence, and it's really competitive in the marketplace today. All it needs is market access.

Alexis Glick: General, let's switch gears for just a moment. You were one of the presidential candidates in the last election cycle. There has been a lot made about some of the cabinet appointments that President Obama has tried to put into office. They've had lots of tax issues. He's had to address many difficult issues in the course of just a couple of weeks in office. On a performance measurement thus far, how's he doing?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: I think he's doing great. I think he's got- he's really picked some top quality people to go into the government. Of course, they've got to pass the, the muster and, and get through the House, through the Senate and through the vetting process, and some people don't make it. But there's tremendous talent out there. There's real, real enthusiasm, and we need to pull this country together again. Democrats, Republicans, Independents - we've got to work together. We've got an enormous an econ-economic facing us. We need a stimulus bill. We need to pull that renewable energy forward, because that's going to create hundreds of thousands of jobs in America in wind and solar, give ethanol access to the market. In the ethanol area, every billion gallons of ethanol we produce is adding 10 to 20 thousand jobs, and we need those jobs right now in America. So, we've got a great shot at transforming our economy. This is a time of tremendous hope and opportunity in America. If we all pull together, we can get there.

Alexis Glick: Let's talk about the stimulus plan. It of course is raising a lot of objections. Some suggest the size is too big, there's too much pork in it. The bottom line is we need to pass something. What do you think of the shape and form of the two different bills that we're seeing right now coming out of the House and Senate?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I think that in, in general you need something that's on the scale just under a trillion dollars, because we've got tremendous slack capacity emerging in our market. We need to create new jobs. We need to preserve existing jobs. We need a combination of tax relief and stimulus, and it's also a chance to sort of get a down payment on economic transformation that we need in the 21st century. So, we're starting to put- in the stimulus package, we're investing in renewable energy. We're talking about transforming the electricity grid, and we're doing things that will help take this economy forward. So, I think it represents a compromise and a sensible compromise. We just need to get it out there.

Alexis Glick: Alright General, let me ask you the last question. That is about something you know very well, that is the military. We understand he's asked the Chiefs of Staff to cut the Defense budget by as much as ten percent or to see how they can cut the budget. He also intends to get many of the troops out in 16 months. He's closed Guantanamo Bay. How's he doing thus far on the national security issues?

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Well, I think this is the kind of transformation that's needed. We know Guantanamo Bay has given us a big black eye around the world. And it's not closed yet, but the decision has been made to close it. There's some tough decisions that'll be made on that. We've got to create a winning strategy in Afghanistan. We've got to follow through on redeploying forces out of Iraq without destabilizing Iraq. I think that can be done. And somehow we've got to put all this together in a budget. We've got to face America's Defense needs all around the world. So, it's a big challenge. Money's not unlimited, and everybody's going to be asked to do their part, including the Defense Department.

Alexis Glick: Alright. General Wesley Clark, thank you very much for joining us this morning.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Thank you.

Alexis Glick: It was a pleasure speaking with you.

GENERAL WESLEY CLARK: Thank you Alexis.