{"id":853,"date":"2008-05-27T15:59:48","date_gmt":"2008-05-27T19:59:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/?p=853"},"modified":"2008-05-27T16:05:02","modified_gmt":"2008-05-27T20:05:02","slug":"the-case-against-webb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blacknell.net\/dynamic\/2008\/05\/27\/the-case-against-webb\/","title":{"rendered":"The Case Against Webb"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m a little troubled by the buzz surrounding Jim Webb as a possible VP to Obama. When it was just the usual cult-of-personality folks<\/a> pushing it, I didn’t think much of it. But the idea that Webb could bring some GOP-attack-defeating military cred to the Dem ticket, pushed along by this foolish notion<\/a> of having to win over every last racist in Appalachia, has slowly been rising<\/a> through the bigger public conversation. So it’s worth considering exactly what’s being sold, here.
\nFirst, though, I want to be clear – I’ve been a fan of Jim Webb. I contributed to his campaign, I volunteered long hours for him, and was absolutely thrilled to be part of the effort that led to this moment<\/a>. Webb is – without a doubt – orders of magnitude better than the guy he replaced. Since his election, I’ve been glad to see him push better benefits for veterans and start tackling the (enormously unpopular) topic of prison crowding and violence. He has disappointed me greatly on some issues<\/a>, but on balance I think he’s a net positive for the United States Senate.\u00c2\u00a0 I believe he’s got a fine Senate career ahead of him.<\/p>\n

As a VP? Not so much. Kathy G., like me, questions Webb’s<\/a>:<\/p>\n

shaky campaigning skills, his well-documented history of extremely poor political judgments, his johnny-come-lately status as a Democrat, his questionable ability to attract votes, and above all, his horrible record on gender[.]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Check out her lengthy post for solid examples of each. Now, I’m not suggesting that Webb hasn’t improved in some of these areas, or that he isn’t entitled to credit for evolving views. But he’s got a very public record available that shows some pretty bad judgments over the years.\u00c2\u00a0 Further, he’s also demonstrated some bad judgment as Senator (again, here<\/a>).\u00c2\u00a0 For me, this doesn’t necessarily add up to him being a poor choice for Senator. But it certainly doesn’t support the idea of him as a good choice for Vice President.<\/p>\n

The Vice Presidency isn’t merely another political pose – it’s what the country intends to rely on in a time of enormous crisis, and it’s the slot from which the occupant will do all he or she can to make herself the prohibitive favorite of the party for 2016. And right now, Webb hasn’t yet proven himself to be worthy of either of those things.\u00c2\u00a0 Democrats can do better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m a little troubled by the buzz surrounding Jim Webb as a possible VP to Obama. When it was just the usual cult-of-personality folks pushing it, I didn’t think much of it. But the idea that Webb could bring some GOP-attack-defeating military cred to the Dem ticket, pushed along by this foolish notion of having […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-virginia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t