Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Editorial: Webb should stick to his guns
Virginia's first-term senator says he's not interested in a spot on the Democratic ticket. Good.
From the RoundTable blog
Read the latest entries
We can see the advantages of having U.S. Sen. James Webb on the Democratic ticket in November as the party's vice presidential nominee. But if he's asked, we hope he'll say no.
Virginia will be losing its senior senator when Republican John Warner retires in January. Should Webb run on his party's ticket -- which he says he is not looking to do -- and the Democrats were to win, the commonwealth would have to send two freshmen to the Senate next year. That would be one too many.
In his first term, Webb already has gained a high profile in Congress as an articulate critic of the Iraq war and an equally articulate advocate for the men and women fighting it.
Virginia, heavily dependent on the defense industry, has in Webb a senator as committed as Warner to the nation's defense. And, like the disillusioned Warner, Webb views the war through the broad lens of its impact on U.S. readiness. Both the state and nation would benefit from his continued presence in the Senate.
Webb is no Warner clone, though. The Democrat's passionate populist tack on economic issues has pushed him decidedly out of the Republican camp, where he once served as President Reagan's secretary of the Navy.
All of this, of course, would make Webb an attractive running mate for either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, the clear front-runner for the party's presidential nomination. Obama especially would get a boost from a running mate with built-in credibility on U.S. security issues.
One big drawback of an Obama-Webb ticket, though, is that neither has served even one full term in the U.S. Senate. Another is Webb's distaste for campaigning.
Monday's release of Webb's latest book, "A Time to Fight," has raised his already high profile and fueled speculation about the vice presidential nomination. The author continues to say "I'm not looking to get on the ticket."
We hope he repeats that if offered the chance.
Webb is effective where he is, as a voice for the common man and the commonwealth.
