In response to this article in the Washington Post's "Richmond Report", the Webb campaign has come out with a statement:
Jim Webb has a long history of assisting African Americans, including fighting to get African Americans represented in the Vietnam War memorial on the National Mall. Jim believes in affirmative action for African Americans. Unfortunately poverty does not discriminate on skin color. There are 37 million Americans of all races living in poverty. Jim will focus on policies which will give all Americans of every race access to opportunity. This is an issue of fairness that de serves a great deal of attention in Virginia and across this country.
By the way, on the topic of race, James Webb in 2004 wrote: "the greatest realignment in modern politics would take place rather quickly if the right national leader found a way to bring the Scots-Irish and African Americans to the same table, and so to redefine a formula that has consciously set them apart for the past two centuries."
Now, I respect Sen. Marsh greatly, but I'd love to hear him tell me how Affirmative Action, as currently constituted, brings African Americans and working class whites closer together.
By the way, here's Bill Clinton on this issue: "Affirmative action was intended to give everybody a fair chance, but it hasn?t always worked smoothly & fairly. Today there are those who are determined to put an end to affirmative action, as if the purposes for which it was created have been achieved. They have not. Until they are, we need to mend affirmative action, most certainly, but not end it."
Now, here's Al Gore: "Our future as a nation depends upon whether or not we can break down the barriers that have been used to pit group against group, and bring our people together. We must take extra steps to acknowledge the history of discrimination and injustice, and to bring all people into the American dream. I am against quotas-they are illegal and un-American. We have to mend affirmative action-to make sure that programs are carefully targeted and fair and that they meet legal requirements-but we should not end it."
Something tells me that Webb, Gore, and Clinton could have a fascinating discussion on this issue.
P.S. Josh is out of town, so I'm taking the liberty of posting his inspirational words on James Webb and African Americans:
There are many statues on the national mall. There is only one statue of a black man. That statue is in the Viet Nam memorial and it's there because James Webb fought for it. In fact, the boots on that statue were modeled off of Webb's own Viet Nam combat boots.
[UPDATE: By the way, the latest poll I could find on Affirmative Action reports that 45% of Americans favor ending it now or phasing it out. Another 19% are unsure what to do about it. That left just 36% who feel it should be continued "for the foreseeable future." I presume all of those 36%, here in Virginia, are Harris Miller supporters. The other 64% would be more along Jim Webb's line of thinking on this issue - time for changes in this 41-year-old program ("mend it don't end it") for the 21st century...]