And were off! Senator Jim Webb is the first to officially declare presidential intentions for 2016. Centrist democrat. Naval Academy Graduate. Vietnam Vet. Decorated Marine (The Navy Cross (second in precedence only to the Medal of Honor), Silver Star, 2 Bronze Stars, 2 Purple Hearts). Assistant Secretary of Defense under Reagan and then Secretary of the Navy. Senator from Virginia. Prolific writer. Articulate. Intelligent. Speaks fluent Vietnamese. One of his sons is an active duty Marine who served in Iraq during the Bush administration, a situation that led then newly sworn-in Senator Webb to say that he felt like slugging [President George W. Bush] after Bush brought up the subject during a White House photo op. Webb refused to have his picture taken with Bush because of the incident though he later managed to forge a working relationship with President. Webb publically called the Iraq War one of Americas greatest military blunders. Note that Webb is a combat wounded Vietnam vet who thinks Iraq was a worse mistake than Vietnam. Give that some thought, wont you? Fully half a year BEFORE the Iraq war began, Webb penned an opinion piece for the Washington Post that said if we invaded Iraq and overthrew Saddam Hussein it could very well jeopardize our ability to find and bring to justice those responsible for 911. Now, perhaps more importantly than Webbs astute assessment of the military situation, in that same essay he declared that the measure of military success can be in PREVENTING wars as well as in fighting them. Think about that. The man who would be president, an experienced and highly decorated Marine, says that military success can be measured in the PREVENTION of war, as well as fighting one. Think about that real hard. Think about that from a presidential standpoint. Boy, theres an idea, eh? Seven months BEFORE the war in Iraq began, Jim Webb said, “those who are pushing for a unilateral war in Iraq know full well that there is no exit strategy if we invade. [...] The Iraqis are a multiethnic people filled with competing factions who in many cases would view a U.S. occupation as infidels invading the cradle of Islam. […] In Japan, American occupation forces quickly became 50,000 friends. In Iraq, they would quickly become 50,000 terrorist targets. Now, compare and contrast to Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, and George Bushs Theyll cheer us in the streets of Baghdad. As a veteran of Iraq myself, well, yeah, never mind, you can do the math for yourself. Outside of military experience, Webb has repeatedly addressed what he sees as a growing economic inequality in the United States caused by out of control executive compensation, unrestricted free trade, unequal globalization, and a broken taxation system. Hes an advocate for criminal justice system and immigration reform. Webb is pro-gun and an outspoken supporter of Second Amendment rights and has a concealed carry permit. I served under Webb when he was Secretary of the Navy, he was always a stand-up guy, far more so than the administration he worked for I can tell you that. I dont agree with all of his professed positions, but I dont strongly disagree with any of them either. So far. Two years out is way, WAY too early to start picking teams, but Im damned glad to see a strong, experienced, centrist candidate like Webb on the Democrat ticket. One that can stand up to both Republicans AND other Democrats. As Ive said repeatedly, no politician should ever believe themselves a shoe-in for the job and Im damned glad to see somebody who will, if nothing else, make Hillary Clinton sweat every inch of the 2016 nomination. Link in the first comment.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 20:36:44 +0000