That's the title of Eleanor Clift's article in Newsweek about Jim Webb's speech Thursday at the National Press Club. Her key comment:
...Even the most ardent admirers of the former secretary of the Navy under President Reagan and acclaimed war novelist weren't quite sure how he would tolerate the bureaucratic pace of politics and adjust his solitary lifestyle as a writer to the clubbiness of the Senate. They needn't have worried. Webb is already a leading voice not only on Iraq but also on the economic fairness issues that Democrats hope will win them the White House in '08.
I couldn't agree more with Clift's assessment.
Now, here's Terence Samuel in The American Prospect on Webb's speech:
...out of the celebrity that has come from beating GOP bigwig George Allen, and in his first few months actually serving in the Senate, a more layered Jim Webb has emerged, as one who might present Democrats with an interesting road map going forward. Could it be that this ex-Republican red state senator might serve as an exemplar for Democrats, as they head into 2008 trying to wrest the White House from the GOP while defining themselves as more than just the anti-Bush, anti-war party?At the National Press Club Thursday, Webb delivered a speech that mapped out a politics that threads carefully, but assuredly, through some important political terrain.
Very true. As Jim Webb said numerous times during the campaign, he believes that "the old politics of liberal and conservative no longer apply." Well, they certainly don't apply to Jim Webb, that's for sure. This guy is an independent thinker, guided by a powerful sense of justice, fairness, humanity...and pride in being an American and a U.S. Marine. Is that "liberal" or "conservative?" Who knows. Who cares.
Samuel adds:
There was a lot of speculation after the November election that the narrow Democratic wins in the red states would pull the party to the right: Webb was the poster boy for this theory. His speech yesterday should put it to rest once and for all.
Yes, there was a lot of speculation about Jim Webb during the campaign last year, much of it wrong. As it turns out, Jim Webb is doing exactly what he said he would do, sticking to the three themes - economic fairness/social justice, reorienting our foreign policy, restoring checks and balances in our government - that he said he'd focus on. If those aren't Democratic themes, I don't know what are.
And concludes:
A new political species has emerged: the Virginia populist. But hey, maybe he is a one-termer like the doubters said. There are two presidential elections before this term ends in January 2013 ...
I love that, "the Virginia populist." I don't know how long we'll be lucky enough to have Jim Webb as our Senator, but personally I'm going to savor it as long as it lasts. "Jim Webb on the Warpath" for a country where the "health of a society is measured at its base, not at its apex," sounds pretty damn good to me.
Like any with politician, I'm in the "wait-and-see mode" on this. If what he says doesn't match how he votes, the Commonwealth took it in the shorts with another mealy-mouthed, say-anything political hack. Don't watch his lips, watch his votes.
That's what I've been doing all along; it's a habit I have. I've been watching the other Senator too -- his words and his votes. And I can tell you that I am much happier with Webb than I am with Warner; both as to how he votes and as to how his words match his acts.
"Detcord"... I find the screen name ... Um... Interesting? Indicative? Just what is it that you want to detonate? Dem unity? And is the similiarity of "detcord" and "discord" really an accident?