Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Webb made the right call
From the RoundTable blog
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George W. Grayson
Grayson teaches at the College of William & Mary and served 27 years as a Democrat in the Virginia House of Delegates.
James Webb recently stated that under "no circumstance will I be a candidate for vice president." This Shermanesque vow disappointed Democratic bloggers, for whom the Old Dominion's junior senator was their paladin. They agreed with Princeton professor Gerald Pomper that Webb would offset many of the blatant shortcomings of Sen. Barack Obama; notably, his inexperience in foreign and military affairs.
After all, the 62-year-old Annapolis graduate is a Vietnam veteran and a former Navy secretary. He suffered two wounds in Southeast Asia, earned four medals, has received accolades from the American Legion and the VFW, and has distinguished himself as a novelist and nonfiction author. "A Time to Fight," his new book about his political policies and experiences in the Senate, sparked rave reviews.
"Webb also would bring specific political advantages to the Democratic ticket. His rural roots, vigorous language and championing of working-class values would compensate for Obama's weaknesses among these voters," Pomper argued.
Joining the Democratic ticket would have bolstered Obama's chances and enhanced Webb's own national prospects. Since World War II, eight vice presidents have become their party's standard-bearers for the White House, with Truman, Nixon, Johnson, Ford and Bush 41 actually reaching the Oval Office.
To his credit, Webb realized that such a move would not be in the best interests of the nation as a whole and Virginia in particular.
If Obama is elected, the Illinois senator will need robust, articulate support in Congress to extricate the U.S. from the Middle East quagmire. The very credentials that burnished Webb's resume as an attractive contender in the veepstakes also contribute to his credibility in making the case for winding down America's Iraq involvement. He can play this role much more effectively on the Senate floor than as vice president, who casts only tie-breaking votes.
His becoming Obama's running mate would also have complicated the Democrats' situation at home.
Virginia law requires the governor to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the unexpired term of a senator who resigns or dies in office. The election shall take place "on the next November general election date or, if occurs 120 days prior to that date, on the second succeeding November general election date." The state executive fills the seat until the people choose a new senator.
One way to have kept the seat in Democratic hands would have been for popular Gov. Tim Kaine to have appointed himself to succeed Webb -- with a view to contesting the seat next year.
Although such maneuvers might work in Louisiana or New Jersey, fusty Virginians could have recoiled at such Machiavellian self-promotion. Kaine could not even have gone through the political legerdemain of resigning and expecting the lieutenant governor -- a rock-ribbed Republican -- to pick him for the Senate. There is also the prickly legal issue of whether an official can hold two posts simultaneously even for a nanosecond.
A backlash against opportunistic maneuvering might have found Kaine and his party losing the Senate seat to a hugely popular Northern Virginian like retiring U.S. Rep. Tom Davis. The Fairfax County Republican would have looked especially appealing to the state's GOP if, as expected, former Gov. Mark Warner clobbers his predecessor, Jim Gilmore, this fall.
And even if Kaine had not named himself to the Senate, the situation would have been dicey, leaving the GOP in an even stronger position to regain the seat that Webb abandoned.
Moreover, if the Democrats lose the presidential showdown, the balance of power in the U.S. Senate will be of critical importance to public policy. The Democrats may be poised to gain a veto-proof Senate, but every seat is key to that calculus.
With the recent victories of Warner, Webb and Kaine, Virginia's Democrats are on a roll. Webb's teaming up with Obama might have thrown the brakes on this momentum.
