Jim Webb, back in 2006, in an actually winnable race.
Hey, do you think that President Barack Obama didn't spend enough time trying to bring all sides together in a Ron Fournier-style bipartisan lovefest? You're in luck! Former one-term Sen. Jim Webb is responding to an avalanche of public demand (just because you can't see it doesn't mean it doesn't exist!) to run for president. Ish, of course. Let's call it an "exploratory committee" to see if the demand he pretends exists can actually materialize.
From his email announcement:
Dear Friend,
I’d like to take a few minutes of your time to ask you to consider the most important question facing America today: Is it possible that our next President could actually lay out a vision for the country, and create an environment where leaders from both parties and from all philosophies would feel compelled to work together for the good of the country, despite all of the money and political pressure that now demands they disagree?
No. NO!
What a fucking naive and stupid thing to ask. And what a naive and stupid thing to think that Democratic primary voters want. I mean, Republicans chewed up the Obama presidency as he desperately tried to bring them aboard. Heck, he even adopted a Republican healthcare reform plan to try and win their hearts. But nope. So what Democrats want now is someone to keep up that failed approach to governance? No thanks.
As one who spent four years in the Reagan Administration but who served in the Senate as a Democrat, I believe it is possible. It is also necessary. We desperately need to fix our country, and to reinforce the values that have sustained us, many of which have fallen by the wayside in the nasty debates of the last several years. I hope you will consider joining me in that effort.
Yeah, I'll pass, because "I was a Republican once, and I haven't forgotten my roots" isn't the most compelling message in a Democratic primary.
Over the past few months thousands of concerned Americans from across the political spectrum have urged me to run for President.
No they haven't. But it's fun to pretend!
A constant theme runs through these requests. Americans want positive, visionary leadership that they can trust, at a time when our country is facing historic challenges. They’re worried about the state of our economy, the fairness of our complicated multicultural society, the manner in which we are addressing foreign policy and national security challenges, and the divisive, paralyzed nature of our government itself. They’re worried about the future. They want solutions, not rhetoric.
Um, "complicated multicultural society"? Nice start, given the "complicated multicultural" makeup of the Democratic primary electorate. But he had me at "foreign policy and national security challenges." Actually, no he didn't. I guess he and Hillary can go to town over how many bombs to drop over Syria.
[Stuff about coming from a family of soldiers and being a Marine]
In that spirit I have decided to launch an Exploratory Committee to examine whether I should run for President in 2016. I made this decision after reflecting on numerous political commentaries and listening to many knowledgeable people. I look forward to listening and talking with more people in the coming months as I decide whether or not to run.
Go for it. I mean, if Ben Carson can run for the GOP nomination, why not Webb for the Democratic one?
More below the fold.
Some assorted snippets from the announcement email:
Our Constitution established a government not to protect the dominance of an aristocratic elite, but under the principle that there should be no permanent aristocracy, that every single American should have equal protection under the law, and a fair opportunity to achieve at the very highest levels.
Hillary is part of a permanent aristocracy. That's bad.
We haven’t been perfect and from time to time, as with today, we have drifted to the fringes of allowing the very inequalities that our Constitution was supposed to prevent. Walk into some of our inner cities if you dare, and see the stagnation, poverty, crime, and lack of opportunity that still affects so many African Americans. Or travel to the Appalachian Mountains, where my own ancestors settled and whose cultural values I still share, and view the poorest counties in America – who happen to be more than 90 percent White, and who live in the reality that “if you’re poor and White you’re out of sight.”
You mean
this Appalachia?
Obama carried just 10 counties in total and half were in Pennsylvania while only a single one was in southern Appalachia. Romney on the other hand carried many counties with over 70 percent of the vote and of the 10 counties where he won over 85 percent of the vote east of the Mississippi, 6 of them are in Appalachia. His single best county in the eastern half of the country was Leslie County in eastern Kentucky at over 90 percent Romney.
But yeah, let's base a Democratic primary on white voters who vote up to 90 percent Republican. ...
The Democratic Party used to be the place where people like these could come not for a handout but for an honest handshake, good full-time jobs, quality education, health care they can afford, and the vital, overriding belief that we’re all in this together and the system is not rigged.
We can get there again.
So, um, the Democratic Party is now a place to get a handout? Wow. I guess he really
hasn't forgotten his Reaganite roots. This should go over very well ... in the Republican primary!
In 2007, I gave the response to President Bush’s State of the Union address. I put economic fairness for our working people and small business owners at the front of my response, noting the immense and ever-growing disparities in income between corporate executives and those who do the hard work. When I graduated from college the average corporate CEO made twenty times what his workers made. Today that number is greater than 300 times. The inequalities between top and bottom in our country are greater than at any time in the last hundred years. And the disparities between those at the very top and the rest of our society have only grown larger since the economic crash of late 2008 and early 2009.
This part is good.
As soon as I was elected we began calling for America to strongly reengage in East Asia, with a special focus on Japan, Korea, and the ten countries of ASEAN, particularly Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore and Burma. I’ve spent a lot of time in Asia over the years. We put this issue on the table two years before President Obama came to office and three years before his Administration announced what they called a “pivot” toward this vital region. We led this change in policy.
That should win him about ... 13 votes. Plus or minus 13 votes.
The rest is about passing a new GI Bill (good!) and a law that helped identify fraud in military contracting (also good!). Neither of which are much relevant in a Democratic primary. It just makes him a good candidate for Secretary of Defense.
Webb was a good candidate for us in Virginia. I was literally the first person at a national outlet to champion his Senate candidacy after I read about him being open to a political run in a San Diego newspaper, of all places. (It took much more effort from the local Virginia blogosphere to get him to make the final plunge.)
But he bailed after a single term. Don't blame him; I'd shoot myself if I served in the Senate. But if the Senate was too much for him, what makes him think the White House makes more sense? He was a great candidate for us in Virginia in a different time. Talk of "bringing America together" rings hollow given the realities of the modern GOP. And it's unnecessary given the realities of America's modern demographics.
There are more of us than there are of them. Stop trying to win Appalachian whites who long ago gave up on the party of economic opportunity. Inspire and turnout our core base—young voters, single women, Latinos, African Americans, creative-class whites—and the White House is yours. And as a bonus, good liberal-populist economic policies will also end up helping those Appalachian whites, even if they did vote against their own interests. (See Kentucky and Kentucky Kynect, to see how that works.) It's a win-win!
But talk about "bipartisanship" and "Democrats just want to give people handouts" and speak fearfully of a "complicated multicultural society," and yeah, maybe you're not the real primary challenger to Hillary Clinton that so many want. But run, Jim, run! Every primary needs its hopeless cranks and comic relief. He can be our very own Herman Cain! But if we're going to have a Democratic Primary that's more than a coronation, someone better will have to step up.
