Wes the Baptist

Exclusive commentary by Greg Lewis / WashingtonDispatch.com
September 24, 2003

I have no doubt that before the November 21 filing deadline for the New Hampshire primary, we'll be describing a certain Democratic Presidential hopeful's actions thus: "And he came to them, saying, 'After me will come one who is more powerful, one whose Gucci sandals I am not fit to carry.'" This candidate's name is, of course, Wesley Clark, but he will be enshrined in the annals of political history under his soon-to-be-revealed identity, "Wes the Baptist."

He'll earn this moniker for his tireless and unselfish promotion of the new messiah of the Left and Presidential candidate for 2004, Hillary Clinton. And he, Clark, will accept the nomination for Vice President on the Democratic ticket in exchange for his proselytizing.

Is there any doubt that Wesley Clark has been tapped from on high — that is, chosen by Bill Clinton (whom a significant proportion of liberal Democrats regard as God), and supported by a host of seraphim and cherubim — to prepare the way for the one who comes after? For the one who promises to be the savior of a floundering Democratic Party? For the one who is prepared to tirelessly carry on the fight for higher taxes and more government control over the lives of American citizens?

Just look at the followers that have gathered around Clark already. There's the apostle Paul (Begala), the apostle Mark (Fabiani), the apostles Rahm (Emmanuel), Bruce (Lindsey), Terry (McAuliffe), and Mickey (Kantor), to name several. These names alone tip us off to the fact that Bill Clinton is orchestrating Hillary's now all-but-inevitable candidacy. Oh, there will be protestations and denials by Hillary, and she'll express extreme reluctance when she accepts ordination as the new messiah of the Democratic Party. But make no mistake about it: The deal is done.

Unfortunately, the deal is done for a new messiah whose idea of fighting for the rights of the poor and oppressed is to fight for their right to give up their identity and autonomy to some sort of perverse political group identity, whose idea of justice is a Federal judiciary packed with liberal activists who promote a leftist agenda, whose idea of honor is exemplified by her secreting of subpoenaed files in the White House office to impede the Whitewater investigation.

This new messiah doesn't stand for anything I recognize as legitimate moral and spiritual values, despite the fact that those on the left truly see themselves as anointed and would not hesitate to couch themselves in the same religious terms I've used if they felt it would suit their ends. There is noone quite so blindly antagonistic to American democracy as a fundamentalist liberal Democrat, unless it is perhaps a fundamentalist Islamist terrorist.

Indeed, there came a man who was sent from Bill, and his name was Wes. He came as a witness to testify concerning Hillary, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not Hillary; he came only as a witness to Hillary.

One has a few simple pieces of advice for Wesley Clark. First, beware that the light you proclaim is not, as most of us know her to be, the princess of darkness. And watch your back. While you may be playing the part of the one who comes before the Democrats' savior, you'd better watch out that Hillary doesn't morph into Salome and demand your head on a plate. Those apostles, whose loyalty you most decidedly do not command, would be only too happy to oblige.