Arming Obama

The Wall Street Journal

Arming Obama
Sen. Jim Webb -- Vietnam Vet, 'Redneck' -- Is Emerging As the Democrats' Military Point Man; The 'VP!' Chant
By MONICA LANGLEY
June 21, 2008; Page A1

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- With his two Purple Hearts, three tattoos and spoiling-for-a-fight attitude, Sen. Jim Webb is emerging as the Democrats' point man on two of the most profound matters facing the electorate this November: national defense and the military. A highly decorated war veteran who opposes the Iraq war, Sen. Webb is considered by many Democrats to be the best person to go into battle against another war hero, expected Republican nominee Sen. John McCain. The ex-Marine, who hails from the important swing state of Virginia, could also become Sen. Barack Obama's go-to person on national security, where the Democratic presidential candidate's résumé is weak compared with rival Sen. McCain's. His rising star has been enhanced by the expected passage of a GI bill he championed, which provides money for veterans to go to college, and which President Bush recently accepted despite his earlier veto threat. All that makes Sen. Webb one of the most talked-about possible vice-presidential contenders.

Yet, Sen. Webb, a politician for less than two years, could be a risky combatant for the Democratic party. The 62-year-old lawmaker and novelist has a zeal that sometimes defies political niceties: He didn't shake President Bush's hand when the president asked about his son's deployment to Iraq. Some of his views aren't politically correct. He contends that "poor whites" are an oppressed class, and defends Confederate soldiers for fighting for state sovereignty... The self-described "redneck" occasionally carries a concealed pistol, and is still suspect to some Democrats for having served as Secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration. He speaks fluent Vietnamese with his third wife, a lawyer who fled Vietnam as a girl and whom he calls his "warrior queen." He takes long walks in Arlington Cemetery, stopping recently to place a rock on the headstone of Sen. McCain's father, a tradition that signals respect for the dead.

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Sen. Webb, who runs his Senate office using the 24-hour clock used in the military, is clearly at ease around the armed forces. On the road last weekend for Democratic events in Virginia, Sen. Webb posed with new fans standing in line to snap photographs with him, standing stiffly but politely. But whenever a Marine identified himself, Sen. Webb gave him a bear-hug embrace. And in a scene that Democrats would relish, in recent days Sen. Webb stood as the honored guest of a sunset parade of Marines bearing rifles, drums and bugles at the Iwo Jima memorial near Arlington Cemetery. "I probably would change my vote from McCain to Obama if Webb goes on the ticket," said Denise Barrineau-Brooks, a Virginia resident who was watching her son in the Marine parade.


(snip)

In the current political season, he acknowledges that he has given Sen. Obama advice on how to appeal to "Joe Six-Pack." In an interview, he declined to give specifics of their conversations, saying only, "I think he gets it. He needs to be able to get out in that environment with the right validators." That "validator" role is one that Sen. Webb appears to be stepping into. Sen. Obama's first campaign stop after clinching the Democratic nomination last week was with Sen. Webb -- hands grasped together in the air -- to Sen. Webb's home state of Virginia, which could be pivotal in this year's election. Sen. Webb is likely to be on the short list for the expected nominee's vice-presidential choice, according to some Democratic operatives. Not only would he offer a counterbalance to Sen. McCain's military expertise, he could also help Sen. Obama make inroads into the deep South, working-class white males and the military.

On the other hand, he may have trouble helping secure the votes of the throngs of women who supported Sen. Hillary Clinton, partly for reasons such as his early opposition to allowing women in combat: He argued in a 1979 article in Washingtonian magazine entitled "Women Can't Fight" that sexual tension would cause discipline and morale problems, though he now says he has modified those views. "Jim Webb is an enigma, and his silence on women's issues makes us nervous," says Allida Black, history professor and editor of the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers. Sen. Webb's spokeswoman points out that he has received "100%" scores from Naral, a pro-choice women's group, and just last week introduced a bill that would provide four weeks of paid parental leave for federal employees. Others worry that Sen. Webb is an untested national candidate who might violate the "do no harm" rule of picking a vice president. That rule favors picking longtime, thoroughly vetted politicians with hefty foreign-policy credibility like former Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn or Sen. Joseph Biden. Former four-star Gen. Wesley Clark is another prospect, as is Sen. Clinton, although the Obama camp has signaled that it's not likely to be her.

(snip)

To broaden his populist appeal, Sen. Webb recently has been talking about financial and consumer issues. In the past week, at a Senate hearing on foreign relations, he criticized the fact that foreign countries have been investing government money in U.S. financial firms. Earlier this month he visited a Richmond, Va., food bank, where he lambasted the rising cost of food and gasoline. The next morning, as a keynote speaker at the state's Democratic convention, Sen. Webb talked about the recent passage of the GI bill. "Some told me to wait my turn, let others -- more experienced -- do it," he said. "But I didn't back down!" The crowd began clapping and chanting, "VP! VP! VP!" Sen. Webb pumped his fist in the air and strode off the stage.


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and have a shot at taking the south.

In other words, he is a very strong candidate in and of himself.

He will have to find a way to win with women voters tho.

But I like his sharp wit, his military background and that he is from a red state.

the only thing, was not thinking about it - that he used to be a Republicans. Wes Clark, too, is at the top of my list and I think that he, too, was a Republican.

Which brings one to wonder whether the only place we can find candidates who are strong on defense and foreign affairs are in the Republican party.

Well, one of the many reasons.
but I am starting to like the idea of Webb better as veep than Biden.

Guess I'm gonna have to change my siggie ... again :P