Senator Jim Webb sad movement back to the wrong side of history.

[Ichingcarpenter]

First of all, I'm really glad we elected Jim Webb a Senator from Virginia. He has worked on some essential topics, including military contracting, Iran and prisons, that few politicians will touch. And he's far better than the racist and somewhat sadistic George Allen, who in his youth apparently used to beat people with pool cues.

That said, Webb has been incredibly underwhelming as a Senator; his response to the State of the Union last year was stunningly good, with a promise that Democrats would show Bush a different path if he refused to change policies on Iraq. Unfortunately, there was no follow-through whatsoever, and Webb's credibility has been shot full of holes, with bad votes on FISA, tax policy, and censuring Moveon members like me (AliceDem in the comments reminds us of his poor votes on the Peru Free Trade agreement and his letter asking the FCC to allow more media consolidation). He has in some ways become a sad joke of a figure, a heroic figure neutered by his own deference to the authoritarians he ran against and at one point in his life, worked for. He endorsed George Allen and George Bush in 2000, and in some ways, he still does.

I expect him to be a great Senator one day, but as of yet, this environment is designed precisely around his weaknesses, not his strengths. Though he is willing to take on tough issues, he is unable to make any progress. Military contracting, Iran, the Webb amendment on Iraq - all have been stymied, with record disapproval from the public against Democrats for their failures. It's as if he cannot bring himself to use actual leverage against the Commander-in-Chief, because that's not how one does business.

What I find especially interesting is how his failed leadership has had such a devastating impact on his staff. Mark Levine details a conversation he had with a Webb staffer on the FISA legislation. It's a long and interesting conversation, and it shows how frustrated this staffer really is at the pressure received about his vote on this and other matters. As it happens, I have worked a bit with this staffer, and I like her very much, but it is clear that the lack of dialouge from Webb with the liberals who got him elected has created a tense and difficult environment and filtered down.>>>

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/77254/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Webb

[tularetom]

1. You can take the boy out of the Marines

but you can't take the Marines out of the boy. Appears as though there's an innate and unwarranted respect for authority there.

My father served in the Corps in WWII and although he was fairly conservative, refused to say a bad word about any Democratic president, sayin ya gotta respect the pres. And he never did, even with Clinton, until the day he died.

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. I was glad that he won but had no illusions on who he was

I can't believe people advocating him for the VP spot.

He endorsed George Allen and George Bush in 2000

[griffi94]

5. right

but he's not liberal enough.....he should be thrown out of the party.......virginia is a really liberal state with all the southerners.....and all the military people there......:sarcasm: ......had webb been anymore liberal....virginia would still have allen as their senator....and the repubs would still hold the senate....it seems to me that the democrats are about to make the same blunder that the repubs did.......they got a majority then convinced themselves that america was a conservative nation.....then they turned hard right...and purged everybody to the left of atilla the hun....now suddenly they're pissin and moanin that they're no longer in control......should the democrats follow their lead...which is something i see a lot of posters here endorse....our majority will be gone by 2012....

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. Hey, I gave to his campaign back then

and he was a huge improvement over the racist asshole that he replaced.

I think Jim Webb can do better and his constitutes need to call him out when he is on the wrong side
of the constitution and history.

[griffi94]

9. i wouldn't bet too much

on his constituents calling him out....given that those same constituents had previously voted for allen....and allen still only lost by a whisker thin margin...and that was after an incredibly stupid incident....my guess is that a majority of webbs constituents are pretty conservative......should be stray too far from the center right....they vote another repub into the senate....i would bet that plenty of his constituents are also on the wrong side of history.......i'd also bet that they're perfectly fine with that

[gaspee]

10. I've always thought he was

IN the mold of the two Nelsons - more R than D but the best we can do in an R state. Not happy with him, but glad the R's no longer have the majority and control the Senate.

[Stinky The Clown]

3. In actuality, Webb isn't a leader on anything in the Senate

He's a junior senator with no seniority who represents a conservative (albeit one that is recently moderating) state.

If you'll recall, his last big job was babysitting the empty chamber so the Bush Family Embarrassment couldn't do his recess shenanigans. There are other senators who are as close to DC as he is .... one who is even equally junior - MD's Ben Cardin .... but the task fell to Webb.

He really has to make his bones. I think he's trying.

I also predicted, when everyone was cheering at his election and some of his recent actions, that he would disappoint many who were hoping for a more liberal person. He's not. He's pretty conservative.

Personally, while I am probably light years more liberal than he, I don't mind the guy one bit. Maybe I just have realistic expectations.

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. The FISA vote surprised many

But it didn't surprise me, he has always been an old school Reagan/Goldwater type republican

[annabanana]

4. It was his win that got us the Chairs on the committees. . That has been

the biggest impact his career has made so far.

[MiniMe]

8. Remember, he was Raygun's chairman of the Navy

So this should be no surprise on some of his policies. However, he is infinitely better than George "macaca" Allen, and if Macaca had won the last election, the primaries would look quite a bit different than it does now. Virginia was an extremely close race. So even with his faults on some votes, he gave the Dems the Senate and he got rid of Macaca's Presidential aspirations. Had he won, he was being groomed for the Presidential run this year.