Sunday, November 04, 2007
Webb seems comfortable in his new role
Dan Radmacher
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From the RoundTable blog
What a difference a year makes. The last time James Webb sat down with The Roanoke Times editorial board, he was waging a long-shot campaign against Sen. George Allen, who appeared to be rebounding from his "macaca" moment.
A little over a year later, Sen. Webb's name is being seriously mentioned as a potential vice presidential candidate -- though Webb himself doesn't seem to take the talk too seriously, judging from his dismissal of the notion when he met with us again last week.
I was impressed by Webb last year, but wondered whether his forceful personality would cause him problems in the Senate. And early on, those concerns seemed validated by what some considered rude treatment of President Bush at a White House reception.
On the whole, though, the senator seems to have won genuine respect among his peers after 10 months in office, especially fellow Democrats.
Democrats tapped him to respond to President Bush's State of the Union address. (Webb displayed his independent streak there, too, by scrapping the party-prepared speech and drafting his own.) More recently, he was chosen as keynote speaker for the New Hampshire Democratic Party's Jefferson-Jackson dinner, a role The Washington Post noted has been more often filled by presidential contenders than freshman senators.
In our latest meeting with Webb, he seemed extremely comfortable in his new role. He's had some bipartisan legislative victories -- including passage of an amendment to create a commission to investigate contractor fraud and mismanagement in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Even measures that have been defeated, such as a requirement for more time between deployment for troops, have made important contributions to the debate in Washington.
Despite the media focus on Webb's opposition to the Iraq war, he's no Johnny One Note. During our meeting, he discussed everything from Iraq to worker protections in free trade agreements to the criminal justice system.
His three overarching issues are national security (of which Iraq is only a part), economic fairness and government accountability.
Webb understands that progress on some issues will be incremental. He's assigned some staff members to what he calls "trajectory issues" -- issues that "won't be solved with one piece of legislation or within a year."
Webb, a prolific author, doesn't talk or think in sound bites -- which is a refreshing change. He's used to wrapping his mind around complex topics, and he knows not to look for simple, ideological solutions.
The Senate needs more members with Webb's pragmatic focus on getting things done.
One of the trajectory issues he wants to examine is the unfairness of the criminal justice system. Webb recently hosted a meeting of the Joint Economic Committee to study the effect of decades of mass-incarceration policies on the nation.
Webb has the courage to take on an issue he calls "an electric hot wire that no politician wants to touch."
No one will accuse the former Marine of having a bleeding heart. But he said the military taught him that rigorous standards are only effective if they are applied fairly, and the current criminal justice system is anything but fair.
For instance, although drug use rates are about the same for blacks and whites, blacks are incarcerated at far higher rates than whites.
Drug use is also mainly a crime of the young, something most outgrow. But while a white person who uses drugs at 18 might go on to become a judge by the time he's 50 years old, Webb noted that a black user caught up in the criminal justice system won't even be able to vote.
For Webb, one of the most compelling aspects of being a senator is the ability to illuminate an issue like that and slowly raise the national conscience.
Judging from how much he truly seems to enjoy his new job, I'm not sure whoever wins the Democratic presidential nomination would have much luck luring him away for a shot at the vice presidency.
Such talk might not even be serious, but the fact that his name is coming up at all is a pretty good indication that Webb is doing something right.
Radmacher is the editorial page editor of The Roanoke Times.
