Jim (Webb) and Tim (Kaine) at "The Fairfax" in Ft. Belvoir

Introducing Jim Webb, Governor Kaine made an interesting point about how "not everyone in politics is there for the right reason."  Hint, hint.  In contrast, Jim Webb is a "wonderful" candidate, who Kaine says makes him "proud" to be "carrying the banner" of the Democratic Party.

Why is Jim Webb running?  According to Kaine, it's for the "best reasons," such as having a "heart for public service" and taking the "next step in a lifelong series of steps in serving his country."  In addition, Kaine noted that Jim Webb "understands what it is to serve," and will "always look out for" our "enlisteds" in military service.  Overall, Jim Webb is running because "the times have compelled him to step forward" and because "our nation needs people like Jim Webb" a this critical time.  According to Gov. Kaine, Jim Webb will be a "strong," "independent" and "vigorous public servant" who won't "go along to get along" in Congress.  And that's exactly what we need right now.
Jim Webb praised Toddy Puller, saying he has known her for "more than a quarter century."  Webb asked how many people in the room were military veterans, and the majority raised their hands. Jim thanked them for their service to our country, reminiscing about his own life growing up in a military family and living in "33 different houses" while he was growing up, and talking about how he's been a part of the military culture "since the day I was born."

According to Webb, "things are good in most of Virginia," although there are "big problems" with transportation.  The real problems right now are at the national/federal levels.  Jim said he decided to run after giving it "a lot of hard thought," having seen 9/11, the disastrous "strategic error" of Iraq, and Hurricane Katrina.  In addition, writing his book "Born Figbting" opened his eyes to the critical importance of Jacksonian Democracy, in the sense that "you measure the health of your society NOT at the apex but at the base."

Jim talked about the challenges of squeezing "3 years of work into 8 months" in running for U.S. Senate.  Despite that, he's come from 33 points behind ("on a good day") to dead even in the polls.  He's been running on the same three themes since day #1, those being:

1) our foreign policy is in a "complete state of disarray" and needs to be reoriented;

2) the country is in danger of breaking into "3 Americas," with the rich never having had it so good, the poor getting poorer and the middle class getting squeezed - we need to address this situation urgently; and

3) the abuse of power by this presidency as it relates to our constitutional system of government, and the need to reassert the power of Congress vis-a-vis the Executive branch.

Finally, Webb talked about bringing back "people like me" to the Democratic Party, namely people who weren't comfortable in the 1970s and 1980s with the Democratic Party on national security grounds, but who also were never quite comfortable with the Republican Party with regards to social justice and economic fairness.  If these millions of people "come back" to the Democratic Party, thre will be a major "sea change" politically in this country, with the old labels of "liberal" and "conservative" not necessarily maintaining their old meanings.

In the Q&A session, Jim elaborated on his ideas for extricating our country from Iraq. The main point is that we "need to be talking" to everyone in the region, and that "it's a leadership quetions."  According to Webb, this administration has done nothing but employ "propagandistic phrases," and that's not leadership.  Webb noted that in the Cold War, we used deterrence and didn't have to "go in and physically engage the enemy."  Webb also pointed out that "after 9/11, we had the whole world with us" but "we squandered it."

On immmigration, Jim said that this isn't the most frequently asked question he gets, but it's the "most emotional."  Jim believes we need to do four things in this area. First, we need to get control of our borders, not with a "Berlin Wall" however.  Second, we need to increase "corporate enforcement when it comes to hiring" immigrants, particularly for large corporations (e.g., 100 employees or more).  Jim noted that there has been no enforcement the past 6 years, and that this benefits big corporations by helping to keep wages low.  Third, we need to work diplomatically and economically with Mexico and other Latin American countries to help stem the supply side of this equation (in large part by fostering economic development and political stability in those countries). Fourth, we need to deal fairly with people who have "truly put down roots" in this country by giving them a way to EARN their way into legal status.

On the outsourcing of U.S. jobs overseas, Jim stressed the importance of shutting down loopholes in the tax code that actually encourage corporations to do this (e.g., the Ford plant in Norfolk).  Jim noted that George Allen has "voted twice to keep [the runaway plants] loophole in place."  We need provisions in our "free trade" agreements to protect workers.  Currently, the average worker has "lost his ability to negotiate."  In addition, we need to incorporate environmental standards and "child labor laws" into our trade agreements. 

On the "marriage amendment," Webb said that he's a Christian who believes marriage is for "one man and one woman." However, this amendment is written in such a way that it removes rights "from a variety of relationships," such as "a widow and a widower."  Jim stressed that he supports civil unions and opposes this amendment.

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