Michael J. Fox AND Gen. Wes Clark for Jim Webb

In the mean time, I invite you to continue reading why this combination is not as unusual as it might seem on the surface.   And I of course encourage you to respond to this diary in any way that might make it visible for more people.  Webb is now heavily on the air, but additional money could make a difference over the weekend.

We all know why Michael J. Fox is active this cycle.  He is supporting those candidates who are willing to stand up for embryonic stem cell research.  He has Parkinson's, and this is one of the many areas of research that provides hope for sufferers of that malady.  It is also viewed as the most important path of research for things as varied as spinal cord injury, juvenile diabetes, and the disease that took my dad - Alzheimer's, which began to rob him of his mind when he approached his 80th birthday and finally killed him shortly before his 84th birthday.  To me this is a personal issue, albeit not as directly personal as it is for Fox.

People think of Wes Clark as the former NATO commander, first in his class at West Point.  Thus they expect him to speak on national security matters, on foreign affairs.   What they may not realize is that he is also passionate about science.   Those who attended Yearlykos 2006 in Las Vegas got some sense of this, as he was the keynote speaker for the science panel.  While I am not endorsing anyone for 2008, it would be an interesting contrast to the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW to have someone who not only understands national security issues but also knows and understands about science.  This has applicability to things seemingly as different as medical research, global warming, energy policy, transportation, and so on.

These two gentlemen also have something very much in common with Jim Webb.   They willingly give of themselves on behalf of others.  Think about how hard it must be for Michael J. Fox to do the advertisements, to appear on the news with Katie Couric (whom I might note grew up here in Arlington!), and to travel for an event with Jim Webb.  He does this despite the strains it represents because he is passionate about helping educate Americans about his disease, about the potentiality for embryonic stem cell research.  It is unlikely that research will find a solution in time to significantly help him, and yet he goes on.  It is like the old Jewish story about a man planting an olive tree when he was very old. Someone challenged him why he took such care, when he would never live to see the tree bear fruit.  His response was that his children's children would be able to get fruit from that tree.  It is a sense of commitment beyond ourselves, our narrow interests, to generations as yet unborn, and to people we will never meet.

General Clark has made no effort to accumulate funds for his own possible presidential run in 2008.  He has spent time and energy and money assisting other candidates around the country in order to make a difference now.   In a way his commitment is parallel to that of Fox, giving of self for something one cares about deeply even though the direct benefit to oneself may not seem evident even upon closer scrutiny.

But that is part of a sense of commitment, to community, to something beyond one's own narrow self-interest.  And it is something both gentlemen share with James H. Webb, Jr.  The most important conversation I have ever had with Jim was in headquarters, during a period of time when many people were commenting about his seeming reluctance to ask for money.  He was raised not to ask for money for himself.  I asked him about this and he acknowledge it.  I then pointed out to him that he was not asking for himself, but for us.  After all, it was ordinary Virginians who implored him to run on our behalf.

Jim has had a good life.  He could live comfortably writing books, doing screenplays, and maintaining a more ordinary existence.  For the past 9 months he has been dedicating himself to becoming our voice in the US Senate, an independent, honest voice.

Yesterday for reasons I cannot fully explain, I had occasion to call the man who was my Rabbi for the better part of a decade, and who has served as the President of the Washington DC area Board of Rabbis.  I don't think he would mind my sharing part of our conversation.  He has talked with Jim, and is comfortable with his position on issues that matter to the jewish community.  He made it clear that it was not so much that he was supporting Jim because he opposed George Allen.  He put if far more bluntly -  he was supporting the truth.  This decent man made clear in very few words that george Allen does not stand for the truth, and Jim Webb does.   That is why he has dedicated himself to this Senate race.  It is why he has run it the way he has - his way, maintaining his sense of honor.  As Max Cleland noted in Charlottesville yesterday while introducing Jim, many in this administration and George Allen clearly do not "get" the demands of honor of Annapolis and the other service academies.  Those who attend are committed to a code not to lie, cheat or steal, or to tolerate among them those who would do any of those things.  

You have a beloved actor now ravaged by a disease that limits his ability to practice his craft.  If you have never seen Brian de Palma's Casualties of War, a film about Vietnam, you will see the depth of acting skill of which Fox was capable, and of which we are not deprived because of his illness, although if you caught him on Boston Legal you will have a sense of what I mean.  You have a general who has for the past 3 years been placing himself in the public eye to address issues on behalf of the nation, using his voice to speak for those who far too often have no voice.  They are coming to Arlington on Thursday, to speak on behalf of another man who has chosen to speak out on our behalf.

Jim Webb may be leading in the polls, but this race is far from over.  We have as I finish this exactly 168 hours until polls close in Virginia.  We still need all the assistance we can get.  We still can use more funds to help get our message out on the air.

The event is Thursday, November 2nd, at Clarendon Ballroom
3185 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington VA 22201

it is only a block from the Clarendon Metro station.

The host reception is at 5:30, the general reception is at 6:00.

As noted before, suggested contributions are
$50 for general reception
$25 for students and government employees for the general reception
for these you can rsvp at RSVP@webbforsenate.com

$500 is the suggested level for the Host reception.
rsvps for that should be to aschiff@webbforsenate.com

You can contribute and rsvp by clicking here

and yes, even if you are not coming, you can still contribute.  Simply go to the main contribution page here and click away.

I hope I see many of you in Clarendon on Thursday.

Peace.

Comments