I have been reading a lot of posts that tout Jim Webb as a good pick for Obama's VP slot. This did not sit well with me for some reason, and suddenly tonight I remembered why. It was an article I read in Rolling Stone that really turned me off to Webb.
Some choice nuggets below the fold..
Webb loves war. He's been studying military history as long as he can read. He loves war so much he can't stand to see one bungled as badly as Bush has the one in Iraq.
Just a few years ago, Webb described America's elites in terms that might be familiar to the fans of Fox News. Liberals were "cultural Marxists," and "the upper crust of academia and the pampered salons of Hollywood" were a fifth column waging war on American traditions.
For years Webb worked for Republicans, a career that culminated in a stint as Ronald Reagan's Secretary of the Navy.
For his own campaign in 2006, he billed himself as a Reagan Democrat. Barely a year later, he's a "Jacksonian Democrat," after Andrew Jackson --another man of war who went to Washington at the head of a populist crusade.
"After 9/11," Webb tells the miners, "the old labels don't apply. The country is just a different place. And now we can remake the party system in these United States if we can get Reagan Democrats -- or whatever you want to call 'em -- if we can bring them back, we will remake politics. You don't measure the health of a society from the top down, but from the bottom up."
Webb believes that a re-energized army of Bubbas will remake American politics, restoring gun lovers, hunters and NASCAR fans to the place they once held at the heart of American populism. "Fight. Sing. Drink. Pray," he titled one chapter in Born Fighting, describing a culture that at its best created country music and at its worst invented the lynch mob.
After reading this, I find it impossible to think that Webb would make a good running mate for Obama. In my mind, he is the anti-Obama.
Would Webb help Obama in Appalachia? I think so. But do you really want this guy to be a heartbeat (or eight years) away from the presidency? I don't.
Edwards and Richardson are the best picks, unless Gore has a change of heart. Webb, to be blunt, scares the shit out of me.
Full text at http://www.rollingstone.com/...