Clark was either a launching a trial balloon or he was a loose cannon.

It was a dangerous thing to try to do, not necessarily because it was counter-factual, but because of how firmly entrenched Senator McCain's image as a foreign policy and national security expert is.  Additionally, this is not the sort of thing I expected from the Obama campaign.

Clark rolled the dice, either on Obama's behalf or his own.  I wasn't happy with Clark's remarks, and you know what?  He took a chance, not for the first time.  He's "gone there" a few times, but never quite so boldly as this time.

The American public will invariably side with the gritty war hero over the well-coiffed general.  It doesn't matter that Clark's criticism was largely correct - to the American electorate there are just things that are off limits.  Apparently getting within a million miles of criticising John McCain's service (or more precisely the significance of it) is one of them.

Learn the lesson, painful though it was, and move on.

Surrogate attacks other candidate.  Nominee rejects surrogate's statement.  Attack gets in the media but nominee appears above it all.

This is a sad story to have to report.

Man, I swear Obama needs to build his coalition now and trim down on the advisers.

Let Clark speak his mind, as Civilians we all need to realize that when in the armed forces NOONE can question your experience there other than an outranking officer.

Clark is, Obama isn't.

Obama, please let the military guys fight their own wars, me and you dont carry that type of weight and we never will.

Clark is your best weapon against McCain's "military experience".

Clark is 1000x the soldier McCain ever was, and that is just based that McCain abandoned his military carreer (his choice, nothing wrong) and Clark decided to carry his career all the way to
General and Supreme Allied Commander of NATO.

Lets hope these are all slips, this is when GE's start to get slippery.

It's precisely what needed to be said, and every time Clark says it, he gets the same reaction: utter shock that he can say such an over-the-top thing as to suggest that McCain's POW status is no qualification to be president.  The problem is that he's damn well right; being a POW is an image builder, not a qualification builder.  We know it, and the rest of the country needs to hear it more often.

It's astounding just how short the GOP memory is, when it was they who disparaged Kerry from here back to Vietnam.

Obama distanced himself from the comments from that doesn't mean he doesn't approve of them.

This was the second time (first was on Morning Joe) in which Clark said exactly the same thing. That doesn't look like a gaffe or a blunder. It looks like a choreographed attempt at bringing this issue to the forefront.

Well, I guess this means that Clark's chances to be VP have been significantly weakened, if not destroyed outright.

Obama did the right thing. He made it clear that the comments Clark made were Clark's comments and not his. That's all he had to do. Now maybe Clark's comments will get the analysis they deserve instead of being seen as an attack by Obama on McCain's service record. Let McCain go at each other on this issue. Clark is right and people will see that unless it becomes an issue of Obama criticizing McCain on this issue. That's how the GOP tried to spin it. They had to do that, because Clark is right.

I think this just enhances Clark's shot at the VP nod. Clark gives Obama the security creds that only Clark or Webb can give him.

Clark is a better choice than Webb for a number of reasons. He doesn't have the sexist millstone around his neck that Webb has. He was/is a strong Hillary supporter. He was high enough in the hierarchy of the military to get executive experience credit for that service. He's less controversial than Webb. He looks great on camera and has the gray hair people associate with experience and maturity. Lots of things to like. It doesn't hurt that he was probably the front runner for Hillary's Veep choice, either.

HULK IS STRONG!!!

I don't think Obama has shifted to the center so much as his campaign is gearing up to make its case to the majority of voters who haven't really been paying attention up until now (and didn't cast a vote in any of these primary elections).  Political junkies vastly overestimate the extent to which many voters (esp. indies) pay attention to the candidates or the process.  Not knocking Clark, but the headline Obama needs to avoid is any cursory linking between him and Vietnam (Republicans would love for him to step into that trap, this was before his time).

Want to lose to McCain? Step one. Attack his military service. I haven't heard Clark's quote, but it sounds like he was off the reservation.