I think the writer got the headline wrong on the article regarding Gen. Wesley Clark’s views on technology:

“I still believe in e=mc², but I can’t believe that in all of human history, we’ll never ever be able to go beyond the speed of light to reach where we want to go. I happen to believe that mankind can do it.”

While time travel has been postulated as a possible result of achieving FTL travel, I don’t think the writer should have made that his headline. That puts Clark in left field in the eyes of the voters. He should be put there for other reasons, not for his views on technology.
Now, I agree that someday it’s quite possible we’ll figure out FTL, but we’ll need an awful good reason to do it, like a Hubble successor finding terrestrial-sized planets (not Jovians) circling a nearby star. Then everyone will be wondering what’s out there? and the imperative for going will exist.
Then again, God only knows....