Army jargon infiltrates campaign

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An army of political reporters is marshaling its most well-oiled military cliches to describe Wesley Clark's march toward victory in the Democratic primary.

From the moment the retired four-star Army general announced his candidacy last month, it's been cliches aweigh.

"Welcome aboard, sir," wrote Time magazine. "Clark's announcement that he was running landed like a rocket-propelled grenade in the messy bunker that is the Democratic presidential field."

The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel trumpeted an early visit thusly: "Plunging into his first full day on the campaign trail, retired Gen. Wesley Clark marched straight into South Florida on Thursday..."

Arnie Arneson, a Democratic radio host from New Hampshire, has spied plenty of the cliches.

"He's changed the language of the debate," she said. "We're all going out to buy fatigues."

But the cliches -- amply dispatched by Mr. Clark himself -- are more than just literary furlough for political reporters weary of political jargon, Mrs. Arneson said. There's real political value in it for the retired four-star Army general.

"Democrats are so desperate to tell America that it's not an oxymoron to be a Democrat and vote for a general," she said. Party faithful are so eager to outflank Republicans in the 2004 presidential election on military and national security issues that they are willing to overlook weaknesses in the general.

"Don't confuse me with the details," Mrs. Arneson said, "just keep telling me he's a general."