Wesley Clark shows how low the Barack Obama campaign will go through their surrogates.

‘I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president,” former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Wesley Clark told Face the Nation on Sunday.

Clark explained: “In the matters of national security policy making, it’s a matter of understanding risk.” The Hillary-Clinton-turned-Barack-Obama-supporter continued: “It’s a matter of gauging your opponents and it’s a matter of being held accountable. John McCain’s never done any of that in his official positions. I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in the armed forces, as a prisoner of war.”

Clark went on to say: “That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded — that wasn’t a wartime squadron.”

If this is a serious strategy on the Left for defeating McCain, Republicans may yet surprise in November.

But although others have tried hitting McCain’s military-service record, this Face the Nation story may be more about Democrats finally facing the reality that is the fringe recklessness of Wesley Clark.

UPDATE at 6/30/08 8:42:38 am:

The Daily Kos Kidz enthusiastically agree with Wesley Clark, of course: Daily Kos: what was so special about what McCain did as a POW?