I think the problem that we all should be focusing on is the decision that he made with a great deal of clarity of thought, and that is the person that he picked to run as his vice presidential nominee, and is asking the entire country to take an enormous leap of faith here in terms of what the qualifications of that person would be in areas like foreign policy.
[Question by Rachel Maddow on whether Webb shares Chuck Hagel's assessment that Sarah Palin "does not have any foreign policy credentials."]I've been friends with Chuck Hagel for 30 years. He and I came up together as Vietnam veterans...He is a tremendously respected senator by both parties, is on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and he has a long time friendship with John McCain. So, I think that if people look at Chuck Hagel's background, they have something pretty concrete to weigh that comment against. And I happen to agree with him.
As someone who has spent a lot of my life working on foreign policy, and having sat for the last two years on the Armed Services Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee, that every American needs to think really hard, whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, about the potential of Governor Palin stepping into the shoes of the presidency without these kinds of experiences.
But the bottom line right now is we need steadfastness of purpose, we need leadership that we can gather around, in a situation where we now are facing the worst crisis that this country has faced since the combination of the Great Depression and World War II. And we need some real reassurance here that we've got people at the helm who have the intellect and the vision to move the country forward, and I believe that person is Barack Obama. And if you examine his vice presidential nominee, the qualification, the experience that you see in Senator Biden is just what the country needs right now.
[Question on McCain pushing for Iraq War as early as the morning of 9/11, McCain's hawkishness towards Russia, his inexplicable stance against Spain, his singing "bomb bomb bomb Iran," his temperament, and his overall "aggressive" stance on foreign policy.]
...I will say this, the incidents that you mention, and others, do reflect judgment and they reflect a view of where this country is as opposed to where it might have been in the 1950s and 1960s. We can't pull out a military solution for every single problem that we face. And in terms of temperament, I will say this...the attacks that Barack Obama has endured for the last 19 months and the way that he has responded certainly reflect positively on his temperament. That is a sense of calm that I think you want when you're trying to sort out these solutions under great pressure.
Regardless of if you agree with him or not, you know he's not reading a script.
the attacks that Barack Obama has endured for the last 19 months and the way that he has responded certainly reflect positively on his temperament. That is a sense of calm that I think you want when you're trying to sort out these solutions under great pressure.
Senator Webb diplomatically danced away from directly accusing Senator McCain of being an emotional basket case, but the hint is there when you hear what he said about Obama's calmness. McCain is not only a very emotional person, he also has the aggressiveness of a fighter pilot combined with a very short fuse, and is well-known among his compatriots for impulsive, risky, show-off decisions made in a split second. Then, if they do not turn out well, he feels emotionally committed to them and bullheadedly continues on, in his mind justifying the original snap decision.
Just the sort of adolescent machismo we want to have a finger on the red button. (This would make a great TV ad).