Welcome to the party General!

How should Dean supporters react to the entry of Wesley Clark into the Presidential race? We should welcome him with open arms.

His entry has many positive benefits for Dean in particular and Democrats in general:

• Having a 4-star general as a prominent Democrat will help dispel the notion that Democrats are nothing but granola-munching, America hating hippies.
• Having a 4-star general who was against the war will help dispel the notion that being anti-war is the same as being soft on defense. This can be nothing but a good thing for Dean.
• Having yet another "Anybody-But-Dean" candidate will split the ABD vote at the precise moment when it needs to coalesce around a single candidate. Unless, of course, it happens to coalesce around Clark. But I happen to think that Clark supporters are being a tad bit optimistic about that happening anytime soon.
• Finally, if Clark proves himself to be an equal or better campaigner than Dean then we should welcome this because we really do need the strongest candidate possible to remove Bush from power

We shouldn't be so focused on getting our particular candidate elected, whoever he or she may be, that we forget that the ultimate goal is the removal of Bush.