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(s)Elections See other (s)Elections Articles Title: Why Jim Webb Should be Obama's Running Mate Why Jim Webb Should be Obama's Running Mate Posted February 15, 2008 | 08:34 AM (EST) If Barack Obama is nominated by the Democratic Party - every day that appears more and more likely - he will have an interesting dilemma in selecting a running mate. On the one hand, he will want to anchor the ticket with someone who can compliment his perceived weaknesses - age, experience, accomplishments. At the same time, having spent more than a year running on the banner of a new-kind-of-politics, Obama would be poorly served selecting a running mate who was borne out of the politics of old. The quandary Obama may find himself in is no easy feat to overcome; it seems almost entirely implausible that someone could anchor Obama with national experience without weighting him down with Washington experience. There is one man, however, who fits the mold so utterly perfectly that his presence on the ticket, his presence in the universe for that matter, is the stuff of fiction, a choice that makes one wonder if any of this is real. But, in the unlikely story of Barack Obama, one should no longer be surprised. Senator Jim Webb was elected to the U.S. Senate in a bitter battle against George Allen, a man who at the time was viewed as a likely presidential contender, and who will, instead, long be remembered as the creator of the "Macaca moment." Prior to the Senate, Webb served as Secretary of the Navy under Ronald Reagan and before that, he was a decorated Vietnam Veteran. His rise in the Senate was remarkable in its speed and depth, and would likely be the subject of closer attention had his fellow Senator, Barack Obama, not coined the meteoric rise only two years before. On his first day in office, he introduced the 21st century version of the GI Bill, designed to provide identical benefits to post 9/11 veterans as those of World War II. He has offered amendments requiring that soldiers be given the same time at home as length of deployment, and most recently, he has threatened legal action against the Bush administration for reneging on its promise to redeploy 30,000 troops out of Iraq. He serves on the Foreign Relations Committee, the Armed Services Committee, and the Committee on Veterans Affairs. In short, his military credentials are substantial and his position on Iraq, unimpeachable. Senator Webb has the ability to provide perspective to an Obama administration, and military gravitas to the ticket. As he has shown on Meet the Press and elsewhere, he is exceptionally talented at aggressively confronting Republicans on military issues, a skill that will be invaluable as he hammers John McCain. And having gone through a grueling Senate election fight, Webb has already been the target of the Republican attack machine. The worst they could find was a sexually explicit passage in a novel written by the Senator, a bizarre attack that did little other than to make George Allen look silly, if not sad. What's more is that Senator Webb, despite his decades of experience in Washington, fits the post-partisan mold that Obama advocates. As a former Republican and Reagan Navy Secretary, Webb embodies the kind of change that Obama seeks and has the ability, perhaps, to attract just as many Republicans and national security Independents to the ticket as Obama. His style of speaking is firm, but eloquent, and his baritone may be matched only by Obama himself. Vice-presidential candidates are often picked, not for their leadership, but for the geographic advantages they can offer the ticket. Virginia, which hasn't voted for a Democratic president since Lyndon Johnson in 1964, is enjoying a Democratic renaissance of sorts, with a popular Democratic Governor in Tim Kaine, a popular Democratic Senator in Jim Webb, and a soon-to-be second Democratic Senator in Former Governor Mark Warner. Democrats retook control of one of its two state houses in the 2007 elections, and numerous major Republican political figures in the state are retiring, including Senator John Warner and Congressman Tom Davis (a fact that led Chris Matthews to refer to Virginia Republicans as "a party in retreat"). Earlier in the election cycle, general election match-ups between a generic Democratic presidential candidate and a generic Republican showed Democrats in the lead. And in Saturday's primary, Obama won 120,000 more votes than all of the Republicans combined. Jim Webb could help deliver Virginia to the blue state column, once and for all. The advantage here cannot be understated. President Bush won the 2004 election with a swing of only 17 electoral votes. Virginia is worth 13 electoral votes. Add Iowa into the mix, a red state that saw a 91% increase in turnout in the Democratic caucus, and where recent polls have shown Barack Obama with a dramatic lead over John McCain, and you have yourself an electoral victory. Virginia could provide a victory to the Democrats that would need neither Florida, nor Ohio. It would not need Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico nor Missouri, states, all of which are sure-fire battlegrounds, leaning Democratic. With a Virginia win, picking up any combination of those states and others means more than just a win. It means a landslide. Which brings me to my final point. Jim Webb does not have the perfect progressive credentials that much of the Democratic Party would expect from their Vice Presidential nominee. Though he was a co-sponsor of every major Democratic proposal in the last legislative session, and though he has been one of the most ardent and well-spoken proponents of redeployment out of Iraq, he has done things to frustrate progressives. Most recently, he voted to give immunity to telecom companies for their participation in an illegal spying program, an indefensible position. But, counter-intuitive though it may be, Jim Webb will allow Barack Obama, and with him, the nation, to take larger strides toward moving a progressive agenda forward. Webb plugs any perceived holes in the Obama candidacy and helps deliver a state that could produce a landslide victory in November. With a landslide comes a mandate, the proof that the new majority that Obama aspires to has been built, and is ready for action. With a mandate comes the political capital that Obama will need to pass our most cherished domestic policies. Jim Webb will have a voice in the administration, but when President Obama disagrees with him, no one will need reminding of whose chair it is behind the desk. And Jim Webb, who will be 70 years old in 2016, will be unlikely to seek the presidency at the end of eight Obama years. Throughout modern American history, there has never been a vice president who could offer all that Jim Webb can: an affirmation of political philosophy, a geographic electoral advantage, and an anchoring effect. Barack Obama will have a serious decision to make if he wins the nomination. The choice however, should be easy.
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#1. To: aristeides, Brian S, Elliott Jackalope, iconoclast (#0)
Not a bad idea at all.
'He will make Cheney look like Gandhi.' From your mouth to God's ear. With McCain running this is a ticket that could be a runaway from both parties ! wheeeeeeeeee!
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