'Wes Clark now bends his considerable political skills to uniting the Democratic Party. On March 29th, the Democratic Party released a Real Security Agenda—this was a unified national security and foreign policy plan that every single Democrat in the Senate and the House of Representatives had agreed on. The only potential 2008 candidate allowed to speak at the event was Wes Clark. Behind him stood the assembled might of the entire Democratic Party, rank upon rank of Senators and Congressional Representatives, from Reid to Pelosi to Kerry to Hillary Clinton. All the Democrats of Capitol Hill stood silently on the stage behind Clark, presenting a united front and following Clark’s lead.

This may sound like an impressively staged photo-op, but the behind-the-scenes politicking is even more impressive and not at all glamorous. It turns out that Wes Clark had been calling Senators and Representatives since the previous summer, hashing out this platform. This presentation was the work of painstaking months of intricate and detailed negotiations led by Clark. He spoke with conservative Blue Dogs, centrist moderates, liberal progressives, libertarian populists, acting as the channel of dialog between differing factions. The agreement may not go far enough to suit various ideologues, but that is the nature of a compromise that the entire party can agree on. And it is only when one considers the full spectrum that Clark wrestled into consensus that the enormity of the task becomes obvious.

From Lieberman to Feingold to Clinton to Kerry to Murtha, Wes Clark wrangled them all into consensus. Backed by Reid and Pelosi, Clark convinced with persuasive logic, applied pressure or cajoling as needed, and in the end, Wes Clark forged common ground by sheer force of will, relentless persistence, the sweat of his brow, diplomatic finesse, and the wisdom of his words. No easy feat, considering that Clark wasn’t even an elected official on the Hill. With the same political skills required to unite an international NATO coalition of governments, egos, and concerns, Wes Clark forged unity in the Democratic Party.'

http://www.awesclarkdemocrat.com/2006/07/wes_clark_mountain_lion_in_chi.htm