One and Done for Jim Webb
Interesting news today from Virginia, where Senator Jim Webb has announced that he won’t be seeking a second term in the U.S. Senate. I’ll count this to the good if the notoriously purple Old Dominion restores a Republican to the seat formerly held by George Allen (and right now it looks as the man with the best hopes of pulling that feat off is … George Allen). However, it’ll be a loss if a more conventional Democrat replaces Webb, the former Secretary of the Navy under President Reagan. Why? As David Paul Kuhn wrote in an insightful RealClearPolitics piece in November:
He is an atypical politician. Politics is not his alpha or omega. He's authored more than half a dozen books, succeeded as a screenwriter and won an Emmy for his coverage of the U.S. Marines in Beirut. This success outside politics empowers him to be less political. Yet what suits Webb to criticism is not that. It's the political sociology he embodies.
Webb represents an endangered species. It's more than his red state Democratic stature, although that would be reason enough. The moderate House Democratic coalition lost more than half its lawmakers last week. But that Blue Dog set is still more common than Webb.
Webb's one of the last FDR Democrats. An economic populist. A national security hawk. His Democratic politics are less concerned with social groups than social equality (of opportunity, not outcome). His values were predominant in the Democrat Party from FDR to JFK, the period in the twentieth century when Democrats were also dominant.
Webb walks to this older Democratic beat. Today's Democrats' are more McGovern than JFK. (Could a John Kennedy win the Democratic nomination today?)
I think we all know that the answer to the above question is no. But does that mean that Webb couldn’t have won a second term representing Virginia in the upper chamber? At the very least, he would have had to be one of the most competitive Democrats in the state. That leads me to believe we’re probably witnessing a lack of stomach for the job more than a fear of losing (anyone who is acquainted with Webb knows he doesn’t shy from a fight).
That’s less uncommon than you’d think. In the past decade, we’ve seen a handful of senators – Fred Thompson, Mark Dayton, Mel Martinez -- choose not to re-up because they simply didn’t enjoy the work. That’s their prerogative, but I worry that that trend leaves the Senate to the Daniel Inouyes and Richard Lugars of the world – men who can’t wrap their head around the idea that the republic would survive without their service.
Personally, I’d like to see more iconoclasts populating the uniquely sterile Senate – whether that’s Jim Webb on the left side of the aisle or Rand Paul on the right. And I’d like to see more of them embracing Tom Coburn’s tenure philosophy – Coburn has promised to retire after his second term and he’s one of the few politicians in America who can be trusted to follow through on such a pledge. I may not agree with Webb on a lot of the issues, but it was nice to entertain the idea of a citizen senator, brief though it may have been.
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Dec '10
Re: One and Done for Jim Webb
We keep hearing about all of this moderation, but Webb voted for Obamacare.
And I think the so-called blue dogs realized that they couldn't pull off the "conservative Democrat" scam as long as that was on their resume.
But they'll do it again. The people of WV got snowed by Joe Manchin and his double-barreled hatred of it. Then he went full lib in the Senate.
I really despise this ridiculous charade. They are all Stupaks.
Nov '10
Re: One and Done for Jim Webb
Amish Dude stole my thunder. He said what I was going to say. Webb is a poser.
Edited on Feb 9, 2011 at 9:57pmJul '10
Re: One and Done for Jim Webb
Just as there is no such thing as a moderate Muslim, there is no longer any such thing as a centrist Democrat.
Anyone who believes otherwise suffers from an excess of optimism.
Oct '10
Re: One and Done for Jim Webb
Sen. John Tester of Montana is yet another "moderate" Democrat who will be facing retirement come November 2012, voluntarily or involuntarily. The jig is up.
Jul '10
Re: One and Done for Jim Webb
I come to bury Webb, not to praise him.
George Allen made enough mistakes four years ago to be edged out by a Webb claiming center-right credentials that said to some that it was safe to vote for this Democrat and against the man with a full size Confederate battle flag on his wall and macaca in his heart.
For their trust, Virginians were saddled with ObamaCare, among many other things. A maverick for show, but not for go, Webb's Hamlet act leading up to his vote on ObamaCare was dutifully covered by the national press nattering about his studies of the bill when proofs were emerging daily that none of our Members were wasting time reading the bill, including the sponsors. Obama still does not know what is in the bill, just see his defenses of it. In the end, this was just poison in the ear of the body politic, as Webb voted for American serfdom as a representative of the home of Wythe, Henry, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Washington.
Yes, Webb has left his mark, but Virginia is busy striking it out.
Edited on Feb 10, 2011 at 2:52amJan '11
Re: One and Done for Jim Webb
Why wouldn't anyone want to be a senator? Not that anyone's been pushing for it, but I wouldn't, either. The job is costly, in terms of family time, cash, and the indignity of two years of begging (aka "fundraising").
And what do you get in return? Theoretically, the chance to influence policy. But that chance has collapsed in the way of party power. Within each party, the ones with real power could fit into a closet. Indeed, the people in that closet take your vote for granted. Vote against them, and the closet retaliates away what little fun the job has. Out of a hundred senators, less than ten matter.
Even if I didn't agree with the Tea Party, I'd see them as a healthy innovation. Power concentrates into such few hands because individual politicians see submissive obedience as the only way to get any power at all. But the evidence of the past week, where the Tea Party didn't bow obsequiously to the Chair, offers hope that the closet may have to expand.
Oct '10
Re: One and Done for Jim Webb
KC Mulville has said it all. It is the political system that is fully corrupt and corrupting. And the Tea Party is the only real chance we have of breaking the system. Outsiders who collectively want to remain outsiders can accomplish things that the career politicians can never stomach. Ultimately, (can we dream?) term limits is the only way out. As a Nation, we are no longer the moral and upright people that our Constitution was designed to govern. As such, we can only reduce the power available through longevity in office. As I said above... can we dream?
Nov '10
Re: One and Done for Jim Webb
Webb's bait-and-switch is just SOP in Washington, so in my mind he is nothing special. However, yesterday I heard no end of what a loss his retirement was. Another fine gentleman disgusted with the sausage making - -really? Is this kind of rudeness (dare I say incivility?) the mark of a gentleman? Webb the boor
Feb '11
Re: One and Done for Jim Webb
Webb fooled me once, I don't consider myself easily fooled.
Jul '10
Re: One and Done for Jim Webb
As a fellow Virginian, I have to concur with Sisyphus. There is little laudable, and much lamentable, about Jim Webb and his term in office.