Which Position In The Administration Would You Like To See General Wesley Clark Offered?

[OldDem2012]

48. Your subject line is your PERSONAL opinion and that's fine....

...but I don't get why you're trying to lecture me on the job description of a Secretary of Defense. Are you trying to tell me Clark doesn't have the skill and ability to handle the job? Do you actually believe he would be intimidated by any part of that job or the personalities with whom he would need to interact?

Out of the twenty-one SecDefs to have served since Eisenhower's Presidency, thirteen had military experience. Only four actually saw combat, and of those four, two received Purple Hearts:

* Thomas Sovereign Gates, Jr. was Ike's last Secretary of Defense from 1959-1961. He saw combat with the Navy in the Pacific during WWII;

* Melvin Laird, Nixon's first Secretary of Defense from 1969-1973, was wounded in the Pacific during WWII while also serving with the Navy.

* Elliot Richardson acted as Nixon's second Secretary of Defense for a very brief period of time in 1973. A D-Day veteran, he was later wounded in combat while serving with the Army in Europe during WWII.

* Caspar Weinberger was Reagan's first Secretary of Defense from 1981-1987. He experienced combat while serving in the Army in the Pacific Theater during WWII.

So, for the last twenty-five years we've had nobody heading up Defense who actually experienced combat in any way, and thirty-nine years since we had a SecDef who received a Purple Heart. Additionally, the last combat veteran to lead the Defense Department came out of WWII.