Special Event

General Wesley Clark was an honor to watch and listen to. I have the utmost respect to him and all his accomplishments. The fact that he has been honored by several other countries including ours shows us how accomplished he is. All his past experiences and the way that he talks also show us what a smart and intelligent man he is. He is a great leader and showed many characteristics of why he is such a great leader. He was polished and well put together so when you first look at him you immediately respect he and you are drawn to him. The way he addresses things, he knows how to say things in such a professional manner that you can nod your head and agree when he could be telling you that the sky is pink. He also addressed issues that were important to the audience. He had charisma and enthusiasm that drew people in. I loved the idea that he supports of using our own resources and not other countries, giving them billions of dollars a year. It is something I also look forward to. He also pointed out that our country needs the youth to step up and participate in what is going on. He wants us to get involved and I totally agree. The more that people get involved the better our country will become. I also think that he really won the crowd over when he said that we should not be fighting a war that shouldn’t be fought like in Iraq. But with all these great things said, I also found myself second guessing him later in the night because instead of being gullible with a great talker I wanted to think critically. I wanted to look up what his stand on the Iraq war was when it was first beginning. A lot of Americans were onboard at first but then changed their minds later when the war began to get drug out. I wanted to know what this plan was that people kept mentioning about invading countries and why he wanted to help Israel with Iran if he was against our war in Iraq? It seemed a bit like a double standard. At first I thought his ideas of getting jobs with coal and oil in Montana or new sources of energy was great until I thought about how much he was over simplifying things and how that kind of coal economy might hurt Montana and many of the people here would really hate it. It could turn into another fiasco like in Sidney where the oil pulled in some of the nastiest human beings and crime rates have sky rocketed. I have friends there and they confirm that they do not feel safe and they worry that when the oil leaves the men that came with it will stay. He really over simplified that matter on energy jobs in Montana.

   Another point I disagreed with was the fact that he wanted the United States to return to being an ultimate super power. When the founding fathers created this country they did not want us to be a super power. They were trying to be free from a power and we have now reversed. I think the United States should focus on itself and helping their own and getting our economy stable and not police the world or become some great dominant power. That scares me.

Over all I think he was a great speaker and had a lot of great points. He held himself well and knew what to say. It was more than an honor to see him.