I met Wesley Clark while he was running for president in 2004. We were at dinner at a table of eight, and he was absolutely riveting while talking generally about Bosnia and the NATO war against Serbia. He was much less forthcoming about why Gen. Hugh Shelton told him to get his "fucking face off the TV." But he was absolutely tongue-tied when asked why he was relieved of his post as Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR). It couldn't have happened without the approval of Bill Clinton. In any case, Clark came to real public attention when he ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 2004. Clark had been valedictorian at West Point and a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. He was clearly very smart and polished. He had a brilliant career in the military. And, then, he ran for president in 2004. He stumbled over one political issue after another. Michael Moore and Madonna endorsed him. I don't think you can reasonably look for an explanation as to why Madonna was for him. Maybe some Jewish mystical Kabbalistic formula could tell you her hidden truth. But you know why Moore supported him: he detected in Clark some of his own goofy, no, freaky politics. And, if you think back to the campaign, Clark was walking and talking on the edge. In any case, thinking of running again for president has made him a conspiratorial thinker. An article by Nathan Guttman in this week's Forward is headlined "Top Dem Wesley Clark Says 'N.Y. Money People' Pushing War With Iran." Well, General Clark, why didn't you come out say what you were thinking outright? Rich Jews is really what you meant. (Or was it rich Catholics you meant? Or rich Episcopalians?) Now, I know some of these people. I socialize with them. And the toughest arguments against whatever "pushing war" means come from this same cohort, New York money people, rich Jews. I am disappointed by how many New York money people, as he calls them, refuse to face the necessity of, at least, the war option. General Clark is now widely considered as an utterly implausible presidential candidate for 2008. But, in 2004, at least in the beginning of the campaign, he was seen by many as heaven's gift to the Democrats. Among those many, of course, were also a very large number of "New York money people," without whose support, in fact, his campaign would have crashed before it took off.