My argument for Jim Webb as Veep

I have no idea whom Obama will consider.  Nor do I know for certain that Webb would consider an offer if made, although I believe that he might well.

And before I start, I will disclose that (a) I was on the edge of the group that persuaded him to run for the Senate (although I played little part in the actual persuasion; (b) before the primary I had a conversation with a key advisor that if Jim were to win the Senate seat he would be on people's VP list; (c) Some of what I am going to write here I have actually discussed with the Senator, and he did not cut me off; (d) I am not personally close with the Senator - there are things with which I disagree, but overall I consider him to have as much integrity and intelligence as any elected official I have ever known, and that combination by itself would be sufficient for me to strongly advocate his being considered for VP.  

So if you care what I think, please keep reading below the fold.  If you don't, if you have mentally rejected Jim Webb because (a) he was once a Republican, or (b) he voted the wrong way on some particular issue (FISA, Immigration, etc), or you think because of a headline on an article written decades ago he is a sexist, then I URGE you to keep reading because you really do not understand the man.
Let's deal with politics first.  Jim Webb was the classic Reagan Democrat.  He grew up in a family of Democrats, and was drawn to Reagan because he perceived the Democratic party of the late 1970's as anti-military, and - and this is my analysis - he was still carrying a lot of anger from the period of Vietnam.  In fact, one could fairly argue that he made a lot of angry statements that required him over time to apologize.  He is a big enough man that he has done so sufficiently that someone like John Kerry, whom he originally savaged, enthusiastically endorsed him for his primary, appearing at a high profile event the day before the primary, and also appearing at the victory celebration.

But on economic issues he has always been a Democrat, and describes himself often as an Andrew Jackson Democrat.   There is a reason he was selected to give the SOTU response in 2007, which among other things indicates that many leaders in the party have no doubt of how committed a Democrat he is.  And those of us in the Old Dominion know how hard he worked on behalf of Democratic candidates for the General Assembly last year - ask people like Chap Petersen, for example, or Don McEachin, two of the new State Senators this cycle.

Let's also dispose of the bit on him being a sexist.  I am not going to spend time on the article for which he has been so criticized.  As SecNav Jim Webb opened up to women just about every billet not specifically closed by Congressional action.   I have met high ranking women who served during that period who are grateful for all that he did.  And it is interesting that some of the strongest feminists in the Virginia Democratic Party, people like former Congresswoman Leslie Byrne, are strong Jim Webb supporters and have no doubts about his commitment.  Oh, and by the way, he has been very supportive of his daughters.

Let me give an illustration about Jim Webb. One of his first events was to address the Arlington-Alexandria chapter of DFA at a restaurant in the Courthouse area of Arlington.  At that session, one man asked what Jim thought of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.  Jim said that he supported it, because it takes time to change the military culture.   The man who had asked it, who is gay, was visibly angry.  At the end of the meeting I went outside to talk with Webb, introduced myself as a former Marine (that bond is important among us who were leathernecks), and we began to converse.  I mentioned how one of his compatriots in the Reagan Defense department, Larry Korb, had identified to me the person Randy Shilts referred to in And the Band Played On as the JCS member who was gay as former commandant Al Gray, that they had had to marry him off to give him cover to get him confirmed.  Jim looked at me and told me he knew, because there had been blood on the floor to get him confirmed, but he had seen it through because Al Gray was the best man for the job.  Gray is considered one of the greatest Commandants the Corps has ever seen.   I went back in to tell the gentleman, who was still angry.  That gentleman over time became one of Jim's strongest supporters.  Partisans, the important Virginia ga-lesbian-bi political group endorse Jim, and he welcomed their support.  He opposed the marriage amendment in Virginia, noting that as far as he was concerned the government should stop at his door and not step in without a compelling reason, on three key issues:  how he prayed, who he loved, and his guns.

Think about that combination for a moment, and realize how powerful a statement that is.

A ticket of Jim Webb behind Barack Obama would be two people who are articulate and thoughtful, both best-selling authors.

Webb would of course bring support on national security and international relations matters, but were that all he brought he might not be as valuable.   Yes, his was an early and articulate and important voice against this episode in Iraq, which early on he was calling the greatest strategic blunder in our history.  But Iraq is NOT why he got into the race, at least, not the major reason.

Jim Webb's passion is economic equity, to ensure that the benefits when our economy does well should not be limited to those at the top.  He has walked picket lines.  he has sought to find ways of helping economically - in a sense his new GI Bill is a reaffirmation of something that was hugely important in expanding the middle class after WWII.    And that is the one reason I think he MIGHT consider VP -  if he was given a major brief in addressing those issues.

Those are the issue of the White Working Class -  they are also the issue of many African-Americans.  And that reminds me of what Jim wrote in "Born Fighting" - that if the African-American and Scots-Irish communities could find common ground on economic issues, they could build a political coalition that could dominate this country.

My wife, who is a cultural historian by training, points out that the kind of divisiveness we just saw in WV and previously to some degree in OH and PA is something quite deliberate - that if you look at the history of Virginia and other states the well-off whites deliberately pitted the working class whites - largely Scot-Irish - against the Blacks as a means of maintaining power by dividing the opposition.   And if that sound like something you have seen in previous Republican campaigns and by one Democratic candidate in this cycle, perhaps you can understand what that represents, and how selection of Webb would represent something  very different.

Webb is not a natural campaigner.  But since his first parade in Falls Church, Memorial Day 2005, he gotten much better.  And he comes across as genuine.

And selecting Webb would also send another message - no one things that Webb can be muzzled, and that is a positive, because it will show that Obama is secure enough in himself that he has no trouble with someone who comes across as a real alpha male as his running mate.  

I believe that Webb would put a LOT of state in play.  To start with, putting Webb on the ticket with Obama, with Mark Warner the Dem candidate for the US Senate, would put Virginia in play presidentially, and might mean +3 in House seats in the Old Dominion.

Much of the background of Appalachia is Scots-Irish - Jim's background.  He can speak to and with them, with credibility.  That might lock down Penna and OH, put WV in play, and even help in parts of KY, the Carolinas, Georgia, and even Alabama, and OK and Ar (two states where there are a lot of people of Appalachian background - and Jim has family connections in Arkansas).

And here is something very interesting - in a time where the increasingly important areas of the world are Africa and Asia, you would have a ticket that covers both.  Obama has his African roots, his time in Indonesia (and I believe he still speaks some of the language) with a half-sister of that background who is married to a Chinese Canadian.  And Jim?  His wife was one of the boat people, Jim has done business in Vietnam, and when the two of them need to speak privately with others around the simply switch into Vietnamese.

There ar others who would be very interesting candidates, and whomever Obama would choose (except HRC) I would support enthusiastically - the decisions he and his campaign staff have made have in general been superb this cycle.

But I believe that, in the right framework, Jim Webb represents the strongest candidate with whom Obama can run.  No, he is not perfect.  No politician is.  But look back at the statement Jim made about the Scot-Irish (his people, whom he acknowledges are sometimes called trailer park trash) and the African-Americans.  Think what a ticket with two of the groups who hve been most taken advantage of historically could represent.

This is my reflection.  It is what I think and believe.  It is my argument for Jim Webb as Obama's running mate.

Peace.

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