Daily VP Discussion: Jim Webb

[Meeker]

Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA)

Secretary of the Navy (1987 - 1988)
US Senator from Virginia (2007 - Present)

[WalterMitty]

what exactly does an insane, misogynist republican add to the ticket?

[Lief 🗽]

While I love Webb, he's not really the guy we need to get the women voters back.

[Lunar]

He only won by a hair against a sinking candidate too, right?  He doesn't really boost Obama much if Obama is going for a state-oriented strategy, right? Granted he may bring other things to the ticket, but the whole Macaca-based-win thing must not be forgotten.

[bullmoose88]

He only won by a hair against a sinking candidate too, right?  He doesn't really boost Obama much if Obama is going for a state-oriented strategy, right? Granted he may bring other things to the ticket, but the whole Macaca-based-win thing must not be forgotten.

Yep...and I don't think he's the guy who is going to help Obama with older white voters.

[YRABNNRM]

I really don't see him adding much to the ticket. There are other candidates with better experience in the areas that he has that would be better picks.

[Kaine for Senate '18]

I think Webb would be a good choice, although better options exist.

[Mr. Morden]

While Webb is far from perfect, the idea that he brings "nothing" to the ticket is ridiculous.  First of all, don't underestimate the propaganda value of having on the ticket a Vietnam vet whose son is serving in Iraq (or maybe he's not deployed at the moment--not really sure on that--but he's been there), when running against a ticket headed by a Vietnam vet whose son has served in Iraq.

Second, back in January, Noah Millman made the case for Webb better than I could:

http://theamericanscene.com/2008/01/02/veepstakes

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I don't agree with *all* of that, but there are some good points in there.

[Erc]

There are worse picks, but there are also much better picks.

Webb appeals to that (potentially imaginary) white working-class male / Reagan Democrat demographic, certainly.  His military background (and, perhaps more importantly, experience in running the military as Secretary of the Navy) is a definite plus.  I don't know how popular he is in Virginia these days, but he also has a definite chance of putting Virginia in play.

However, he's extremely inexperienced politically.  Although this does complement the theme of "change in Washington," it renders them vulnerable to attacks on the front of experience.  I'd like my ticket to have more than six years combined experience, thank you.  His stint as Secretary of the Navy only counters this slightly.  It also means he could be quite gaffe-prone on the campaign trail, seeing as his only campaign was a single Senate race in Virginia which he won solely due to the fact that his opponent self-destructed.

His problem in bringing women to the fold have already been mentioned.

He's got a lot of good, unique qualities that aren't present in many other VP's...but I think his short tenure in office rules him out (the last VP pick to have only two years in a major office was Spiro Agnew).

[Ogre Mage]

No.  At this early stage of his political career Webb is far too weak to deliver Virginia.  Mark Warner maybe could, but Chuck Schumer would be awfully pissed if Obama picked him.  The idea that Webb might help with the white working class is a hypothesis with scant evidence.  He is a political neophyte and a turnoff for the women's vote.  A major positive is that he would bolster Obama on the national security front.  He could do well as Secretary of Defense in an Obama Administration, but is a mediocre choice as a running mate.

I would suggest, however, that Obama use Webb as high-profile surrogate to hit back when the inevitable attacks on Obama's foreign policy creds are launched by the right-wing.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

There are certain advantages to Webb. There are certain disadvantages as well; namely that he is, aha, somewhat more likely to have a Howard Beale moment than most other possible choices.

Btw, picking a running mate because "they can deliever" their homestate is (IMO at least) generally pretty stupid. Far better to pick someone who papers over, or might paper over, some cracks in the nominees electoral appeal.

[exopolitician]

I was at the Obama rally in Bristow yesterday..and basically the first part of Obama's speech fell just shy of announcing Webb as his VP. I think he has a bigger chance out of anyone named so far as being on the ticket. IMHO.

[JSojourner]

Those who say Webb is too inexperienced to be President have not read his bio.  Secretary of the Navy is a big, big deal.

I also don't think Webb is anti-woman.  On NPR last month, he quite openly admitted his comments were ignorant and he rejected that position.  BUT -- the fact that he said what he did doesn't change.  And there are plenty of women voters already predisposed against Obama, who will not be swayed with this addition to the ticket.

He serves America best right where he is.  In the Senate.

[Keystone Phil]

He'd be a great pick for Obama if he had another term or two under his belt. Oh, and if he didn't write those weird novels. I could see that becoming an issue with women voters.

[Flying Dog]

I'd give him a B. He brings national security credentials to the ticket and could help with Virginia but he doesn't help with women though and he doesn't have a lot of campaign experience.

[WalterMitty]

He'd be a great pick for Obama if he had another term or two under his belt. Oh, and if he didn't write those weird novels. I could see that becoming an issue with women voters.

you should read what he wrote when women wanted to be admitted to the naval academy. 

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Webb is too inexperienced. Two senators on the same ticket with a combined service of 3 years? Also, didn't he write creepy books about molesting kids?

[Flying Dog]

Webb is too inexperienced. Two senators on the same ticket with a combined service of 3 years? Also, didn't he write creepy books about molesting kids?

Do you know how to count?

[J. J.]

He's like Romney in MI and CO.  He won't win VA for Obama, but he may give just enough of a boost in a close race to swing it to Obama.  He also has good national security credentials.  One problem is I don't see him swinging any other state.  He's a plus, but only in VA.

[NOVA Green]

He's like Romney in MI and CO.  He won't win VA for Obama, but he may give just enough of a boost in a close race to swing it to Obama.  He also has good national security credentials.  One problem is I don't see him swinging any other state.  He's a plus, but only in VA.

Wouldn't Obama also be able to send him to places like SE Ohio, Western PA, West Virgina, and even Arkansas to mobilize Democratic rank and file voters as well?

[Frodo]

This seems to the most appropriate place to post this article:

Webb's rebel roots: An affinity for the Confederacy

By DAVID MARK | 6/10/08 6:35 PM EST

Barack Obama’s vice presidential vetting team will undoubtedly run across some quirky and potentially troublesome issues as it goes about the business of scouring the backgrounds of possible running mates. But it’s unlikely they’ll find one so curious as Virginia Democratic Sen. Jim Webb’s affinity for the cause of the Confederacy.

Webb is no mere student of the Civil War era. He’s an author, too, and he’s left a trail of writings and statements about one of the rawest and most sensitive topics in American history.

He has suggested many times that while the Confederacy is a symbol to many of the racist legacy of slavery and segregation, for others it simply reflects Southern pride. In a June 1990 speech in front of the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, posted on his personal website, he lauded the rebels’ “gallantry,” which he said “is still misunderstood by most Americans.”

Webb, a descendant of Confederate officers, also voiced sympathy for the notion of state sovereignty as it was understood in the early 1860s, and seemed to suggest that states were justified in trying to secede.

“Most Southern soldiers viewed the driving issue to be sovereignty rather than slavery,” he said. “Love of the Union was palpably stronger in the South than in the North before the war — just as overt patriotism is today — but it was tempered by a strong belief that state sovereignty existed prior to the Constitution and that it had never been surrendered.”

Webb expanded on his sentiments in his well-received 2004 book, “Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America,” which portrays the Southern cause as at least understandable, if not wholly laudable.

“The venerable Robert E. Lee has taken some vicious hits, as dishonest or misinformed advocates among political interest groups and in academia attempt to twist yesterday’s America into a fantasy that might better service the political issues of today,” he wrote. “The greatest disservice on this count has been the attempt by these revisionist politicians and academics to defame the entire Confederate Army in a move that can only be termed the Nazification of the Confederacy.” As in the Confederate Memorial speech, Webb suggests in his book that relatively few Southerners were slaveholders and that the war was fought over state sovereignty, which in the eyes of many at the time included the right to secede from the national government.

“The states that had joined the Union after the Revolution considered themselves independent political entities, much like the countries of Europe do today,” Webb wrote. “The 10th Amendment to the Constitution reserved to the states all rights not specially granted to the federal government, and in their view the states had thus retained their right to dissolve the federal relationship.”

There’s nothing scandalous in the paper trail, nothing that on its face would disqualify Webb from consideration for national office. Yet it veers into perilous waters since the slightest sign of support or statement of understanding of the Confederate cause has the potential to alienate African-Americans who are acutely sensitive to the topic.

[Keystone Phil]

Remember when George Allen deserved to lose because of his affection for the Confederacy?

Yeah, guys. Go with Webb.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I think this came up during the Senate race, but it had no legs as the media was pounding Macaca-gate day after day.

Webb is a great pick, indeed!