Seeking to extinguish a political firestorm, Barack Obama on Monday issued a veiled rebuke to one of his top surrogates, Wesley Clark, for disparaging John McCain’s military service.
“No one should ever devalue service, especially for the sake of a political campaign, and that goes for supporters on both sides,” Obama told an audience in Missouri. “We must always express our profound gratitude for the service of our men and women in uniform. Period — full stop.”
Seeking to distance himself from Clark, a retired Army general who has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate, Obama pledged: “I will never question the patriotism of others in this campaign.”
Obama spokesman Bill Burton was more blunt, saying his boss “rejects yesterday’s statement by General Clark.”
The flap overshadowed a carefully crafted speech by Obama that was aimed at allaying concerns about his own patriotism. Instead, Obama and his advisers spent Monday scrambling to contain the political damage caused by Clark’s attack on McCain, a fighter pilot who spent five-and-a-half years as a prisoner of war after being shot down over North Vietnam.
“I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president,” Clark told
CBS on Sunday. “He hasn’t held executive responsibility. That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded — that wasn’t a wartime squadron.”
McCain, who was tortured during his captivity and refused offers of early release because fellow Americans had been imprisoned longer, shrugged off Clark’s comments.
“I’m proud of my service,” McCain told reporters in Pennsylvania. “If that’s the kind of campaign Senator Obama and his surrogates and supporters want to engage in, I understand that.
“But it doesn’t reduce the price of gas by one penny,” he added. “And it certainly doesn’t do anything to address the challenges Americans have in keeping their jobs, homes and supporting their families.”
McCain’s surrogates were less restrained. Medal of Honor recipient George “Bud” Day, who shared a prison cell with McCain, said: “I am astounded that a person who represents a presidential candidate would again be involved in this kind of political shenanigans against a man of John McCain’s character.”
Day was a member of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, an organization that questioned Sen. John Kerry’s military record when he ran for president in 2004.
“The Swift Boat attacks were simply a revelation of the truth,” Day told reporters on a conference call Monday. “The similarity does not exist here.”
Noting that McCain denounced the Swift Boat Veterans in 2004, Kerry on Monday called for McCain to “cut ties with the colonel and anyone else connected to SBVT.”
