By ,
Published January 13, 2015
Wherever he goes, retired Gen. Wesley Clark (search) is peppered with the question of whether he will run for president. So far, he has been noncommittal.
"I haven't made any decision. My wife and I have to discuss that," Clark tells inquirers.
He is also secretive about what would convince him to launch a candidacy.
"I haven't disclosed my motivations and my internal thought process and that's the way I'd like to keep it," he said.
But walking the streets of his hometown in Little Rock, Ark., he shakes hands like a candidate and sounds like a candidate.
"They've got to have jobs. To have jobs, there's got to be transportation," Clark said recently. "There's got to be power, we've got to be safe and have an educated work force."
Campaign offices and Web sites are springing up all over the nation to draft Clark, making it almost irrelevant as to whether Clark says he is running or not.
"We have 20,000 people around the country who say, 'We're going to vote for this man. If it means we'll have to write in his name, we will do that," said Josh Margulies of Draftwesleyclark.com.
"He seems to be the kind of leader I think the country could use at this time, a time when there's high unemployment rates and surpluses that have gone to deficits. So Gen. Clark, I think he can really do some good for our country," said Jeff Dailey, head of Arkansans for Clark (search) and the son of Little Rock's mayor Jim Dailey.
Clark graduated first in his class at West Point (search) and went on to become a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University. Through 38 years in the military, he has earned a Purple Heart, a Silver Star and a Bronze Star, rose to the rank of four-star general and served as NATO Supreme Allied Commander (search) during the 1999 campaign in Kosovo.
Clark gained recognition criticizing President Bush for sending U.S. troops into Iraq. While welcoming Saddam Hussein's ouster, he adds that weapons of mass destruction do exist in Iraq, but not in a quantity that justified an invasion.
"When I was in the military, I took an oath to support and uphold the Constitution of the United States (search), and the Constitution is a constitution about freedom and liberty. It doesn't say that it's okay to mislead people, it doesn't say the end justified the means," Clark said.
With a field of nine Democratic presidential hopefuls, Clark has got people talking on Capitol Hill. Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., has officially endorsed Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry (search), but also urged Clark to run.
Some pundits say Clark is being groomed for the number two spot on a ticket.
"When people begin looking for a vice presidential candidate, his name will be near the top because he's a quality candidate for that job, not for the presidency," said Cal Jillson, a Southern Methodist University political science professor.
In a recent news report, Sen. Barbara Boxer (search), D-Calif., praised Kerry and Clark while taking a swipe at the president
Clark and Kerry "know what war is [and] they are going to give us a real interesting contrast to this president who likes war but has never been to war," Boxer was quoted as saying.
Without a decision on the presidency, Clark certainly isn't prepared to answer questions about a vice presidential post. Pundits say, though, that they don't think Clark is working on his name recognition in order to make a bid in 2008. With the war fresh in people's minds, it's now or never for the general.
Fox News' Mike Tobin contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/story/clark-undeclared-but-sounds-like-a-candidate