HNN Poll: Is Wesley Clark America's Cincinnatus?

As Gil Troy has pointed out in See How They Ran, America is "haunted by the ghosts of George Washington and Andrew Jackson." Presidential candidates are required to be "as aloof , as virtuous, as restrained as Washington, while being as popular, as political, as dynamic as Jackson." The inherent contradictions in this formula have often been resolved by picking presidents drawn from the ranks of the military. Because military heroes have become popular through their behavior on the battlefield, they do not have to pander to the crowd to attract support through naked political appeals. It is no mystery therefore that Americans have elected ten generals as president. Particularly during times of high cynicism, military leaders have made especially popular candidates. Like Ike in 1952, they can argue convincingly that they will sweep the Augean stables clean of political corruption.

Of course, not all military leaders possess the political shrewdness needed to win the presidency. The most famous case of a leader who proved unable to translate heroism on the battlefield into political gain was Admiral George Dewey, the hero of Manila Bay.

After the Spanish-American War, pressure mounted on Dewey to make a run for the office. He demurred, telling the press,"I am unfitted for it." Nonetheless Democrats, eager to back an alternative to the wild William Jennings Bryan, pressed him to change his mind. Finally, in April 1900 Dewey agreed to run."Yes," he told a reporter for the New York World,"I have decided to become a candidate." But his candidacy fizzled, in no small measure because he told the press that he had decided to run because"since studying this subject, I am convinced that the office of the president is not such a very difficult one to fill." As Mark Sullivan recounted, this astonishing statement resulted in scornful headlines."Leaders Laugh at Poor Dewey," was one. Another:"The Entire Capital Is Laughing at the Former Hero."

No one is laughing at General Clark's candidacy. But he did get off to a bad start, telling reporters initially that if he were in Congress he would have approved the war resolution on Iraq, though he would have insisted that it include a provision requiring President Bush to return to Congress for express authorization to go to war. (Democrats in Congress also favored such a provision but were unable to persuade Republicans to go along.) Clark's statement in support of the war resolution immediately undermined his appeal to anti-war Democrats. The next day he clarified his position, explaining that while he supported the war resolution to apply pressure on Saddam, he opposed the war itself.