Jim Webb (D) launches 2016 committee

[Lucille]

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/11/jim-webb-2016-committee-113055.html

Former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb became the first well-known Democrat to launch an exploratory committee to run for president on Wednesday night, saying the nation is at a “serious crossroads.”

“I have decided to launch an Exploratory Committee to examine whether I should run for President in 2016,” Webb said in a four-page letter on his website, Webb2016.

“I made this decision after reflecting on numerous political commentaries and listening to many knowledgeable people. I look forward to listening and talking with more people in the coming months as I decide whether or not to run.”

The Vietnam veteran added, “A strong majority of Americans agree that we are at a serious crossroads. In my view the solutions are not simply political, but those of leadership. I learned long ago on the battlefields of Vietnam that in a crisis, there is no substitute for clear-eyed leadership.”

Webb, who was Ronald Reagan’s Navy secretary and who has held centrist views on a number of issues, has been bolstered by progressive news outlet The Nation as a potential challenge from the left to Hillary Clinton, the dominant front-runner who hasn’t yet said if she will launch a second national campaign.

“With enough financial support to conduct a first-class campaign, I have no doubt that we can put these issues squarely before the American people and gain their support,” said Webb, acknowledging his underdog status against a likely Clinton fundraising juggernaut.

“The 2016 election is two years away, but serious campaigning will begin very soon. The first primaries are about a year away. Your early support will be crucial as I evaluate whether we might overcome what many commentators see as nearly impossible odds.”

He did not mention Clinton’s name in the letter.

Head neo-Trot at neo-Trot Central is in denial about how attractive this guy will be next to the neo-Trot Queen in blue. He'll get the Reagan Dems and independents.

hxxp://hotair.com/archives/2014/11/20/video-jim-webb-launches-presidential-bid/

His letter never mentions Hillary’s name, though. In fact, as Daniel Halper notes at the Weekly Standard, Webb’s statement never actually makes explicit which party’s nomination he’s seeking, although the context of this passage makes it implicitly clear:

The Democratic Party used to be the place where people like these could come not for a handout but for an honest handshake, good full-time jobs, quality education, health care they can afford, and the vital, overriding belief that we’re all in this together and the system is not rigged.

We can get there again. The American Dream does survive.

Buzzfeed’s Ruby Cramer considers that a signal to the Elizabeth Warren wing of the Democratic Party:

The 14-minute monologue suggests Webb’s message to Democratic voters could have a working-class, progressive bent. In the video, he described the Democratic Party as a group that used to be defined by a “vital, overriding belief that we’re all in this together and the system is not rigged.”

The phrase — that the system, or game, is “rigged” — echoes a common tagline by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the popular progressive who has said repeatedly that she is not planning on running for president, despite appeals from the left.

Because it IS rigged! Establishment Neo-Trots and their dupes and tools are why we can't have nice things.

Given that, it’s difficult to figure how seriously to take this bid. He doesn’t have much of a following any longer, having been all but absent for the last two years. He didn’t campaign significantly for Barack Obama in 2012, if at all, nor did he do anything for Democrats in this cycle — even though Webb tried grabbing attention a couple of times this year about his 2016 aspirations. Webb seems to think that it’s still 2006 and the Left will draft him again without having to do any of the party-building work necessary for most serious contenders, such as Hillary Clinton. She may not have been effective in this cycle, but she and Bill hit the campaign trail and tried to get Democrats elected, as did Warren, Joe Biden, Martin O’Malley, and other Democrats who might be looking at a bid. Webb’s sat out campaigning since the 2008 election for Obama.

LOL He acts like sitting out campaigning for those epic failures is a bad thing. The electorate will see that as a big plus. It's also funny that he's accusing him of living in 2006 since, for Trots, every day is 9/11, and every year is 2001 and 1936 simultaneously.

 

[Lucille]

http://reason.com/blog/2014/11/20/jim-webb-prepares-for-2016-presidential

Anyway, though Webb is seen as a longshot (even by Webb), his candidacy matters in terms of what the Democratic Party's post-Obama identity is going to look like. His comments do not advocate for a continuation of Obama's policies, even though he makes comments about income inequality that could have come straight from the president's mouth (or any other Democratic politician). He doesn't intend to try to ride in on Obama's coattails.

Webb isn't Elizabeth Warren, but his positions fall more on the Democratic progressive populism side of the party rather than Hillary Clinton's Democratic establishment support for interventionism from the left. He takes anti-war positions, but he is also a Vietnam War veteran (maybe "but" should be "because" there). As Elizabeth Nolan Brown noted in September, it's been Obama's abuse of authority in the Middle East that has been pushing him to consider his run.

Over at The Week, Michael Tracey thinks Webb's progressive economic populism combined with his military background and anti-war positions would make him the perfect alternative to Clinton in the primaries:

Foreign policy is Webb's main strength. Remember that during the storied 2008 Democratic presidential primary, the defining issue seized on with great effect by Barack Obama was then-Sen. Clinton's vote to authorize military force against Saddam Hussein. And wouldn't you know it, here we are again, embarking on another military offensive of indeterminate length — one that very much includes "boots on the ground."

By the time the 2016 Iowa caucus rolls around, the U.S. may well still be mired in Iraq and Syria (and who knows where else?). Clinton, as Obama's secretary of State, is widely reputed to have been one of the administration's foremost interventionist agitators, producing disillusionment among anti-war grassroots Democrats who will probably take an active role in the primaries. This contingent is unlikely to accept the coronation of Hillary the Hawk without a fight.

He's also a strong voice for criminal justice reform, and as a senator proposed a commission to examine issues related to mass incarceration. As a candidate he could be fighting for the same independent voters that Sen. Rand Paul might go for should he get the Republican nod. But that assumes Webb is able to fight past the massive establishment machine that will be supporting Clinton.

 

[mwkaufman]

I think he is too old and boring to attract significant support. I don't even think he could beat Warren or Biden who are both more talented politicians. The effort is amateurish and he's way behind the curve to get the nomination which will require a national brand he has not built. He can probably get on stage and sell some books, but Santorum has a better chance of getting a major party nomination than this guy.

 

[invisible]

She may not have been effective in this cycle, but she and Bill hit the campaign trail and tried to get Democrats elected, as did Warren, Joe Biden, Martin O’Malley, and other Democrats who might be looking at a bid.

And there's that name, yet again. I've got a really bad feeling about this.

 

[RonPaulGeorge&Ringo]

Here's his youtube announcement:



I've been saying for months that this guy will pose a threat to Rand for the independent vote in open-primary states. good to see someone at Reason has picked up on that too.

 

[RonPaulGeorge&Ringo]

And here's a speech he gave from a couple months ago. It's about an hour.

 

[Lucille]

He voted YAY! on Barry's Big Fascist Medical System, which will be causing even more pain for the people over the next few years.

Retiring Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) says his biggest regret is ObamaCare and the ObamaCare debate.

CHUCK TODD: Alright Senator Webb, here's the question that goes out to many departing lawmakers... Is there any one vote you would want back if you could do it all over again?

JIM WEBB: My great regret on that is that I believe the whole health care issue could have been handled differently by the Administration, and over here. I think the way that the process was put forward - without a clear set of principles from the Administration - caused a lot of fear in the country. We had seven different - or five different - committees boiling up 7000 pages of contradictory information at a time when the country went - it was in a recession - and people were talking about this other stuff.

TODD: Do you regret...?

WEBB: No... in the end, I voted with the Republicans 18 times, but in the end, I voted for it. I thought, we do need to move forward. We need to find different ways to work with these issues, but could have had a smaller, more focused package, and the country would have been more comfortable with the process as well.

Didn't regret it in '12. I wonder if he does now? And did he also know, as Gillibrand so helpfully confessed, that they "all knew" Obama was lying through his teeth?

 

[Lucille]

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/webb-is-running-for-president/

Assuming that Webb is able to drum up some substantial support in the coming months, his entry into the race should be very good and healthy for the Democratic Party and the country. There had to be someone in the primaries ready and able to hold Clinton accountable for her poor judgments on policy, and there needed to be someone qualified to make her earn a nomination that has so far been treated as her dynastic inheritance. Even an unsuccessful challenge will force Clinton to face up to the mistakes on her record, and it will offer Democratic voters a serious alternative to the establishment favorite. For reasons that Kelley Vlahos made clear in her article today on Hillary Clinton, Webb’s announcement is especially welcome news for anyone interested in reforming and improving our foreign policy and national security policies. In particular, I look forward to hearing him criticize the Libyan war along these lines:

The logic that we used to go in was different than any situation that I can remember in terms of the use of force. There were no treaties at risk, there were no Americans at risk, there were no terrorist attacks coming out of Libya … in the name of what was called ‘humanitarian intervention’–this was the new concept that was enunciated–we established a new concept that the president can unilaterally decide what humanitarian conditions are, anywhere in the world.

Webb has the most credibility and the best qualifications on the Democratic side to oppose Clinton on these issues, and those are the issues on which she most needs to be challenged.

 

[anaconda]

Jack Webb expected to announce by Xmas.

 

[anaconda]

I think he is too old and boring to attract significant support.

He looks damn good for 68.

 

[mwkaufman]

He looks damn good for 68.

He does, but it's more about style and delivery than looks. He speaks slowly and referencing working with the Reagan administration isn't going to help him with the Democratic base as it might have twenty years ago.

 

[Lucille]

He does, but it's more about style and delivery than looks. He speaks slowly and referencing working with the Reagan administration isn't going to help him with the Democratic base as it might have twenty years ago.

The Koz Kidz are having a collective temper tantrum.

hxxp://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/20/1346126/-Jim-Webb-is-running-ish-for-president-because-bipartisanship-and-Democratic-handouts-are-bad

 

[Gage]

Is it 2008?

 

[Mr.NoSmile]

Well. If Clinton does run, looks like she wouldn't be the only one after all.

 

[libertarianinternational]

The biggest loser.

 

[TaftFan]

I've been wanting him in a Rand administration. Maybe it still happens.

 

[RonPaulGeorge&Ringo]

I don't think he ever said in that announcement that he's committed to running as a Democrat. He might try to run as an independent.

 

[NewRightLibertarian]

I think he is too old and boring to attract significant support. I don't even think he could beat Warren or Biden who are both more talented politicians. The effort is amateurish and he's way behind the curve to get the nomination which will require a national brand he has not built. He can probably get on stage and sell some books, but Santorum has a better chance of getting a major party nomination than this guy.

I dunno. Biden, Hillary and Warren could all crash and burn. I don't think the Dems are smart enough to run Webb, but he is formidable.

 

[NewRightLibertarian]

I think he is too old and boring to attract significant support. I don't even think he could beat Warren or Biden who are both more talented politicians. The effort is amateurish and he's way behind the curve to get the nomination which will require a national brand he has not built. He can probably get on stage and sell some books, but Santorum has a better chance of getting a major party nomination than this guy.

I dunno. Biden, Hillary and Warren could all crash and burn. I don't think the Dems are smart enough to run Webb, but he is formidable.

 

[anaconda]

Is it 2008?

Yes, and Jim Gilmore and Tommy Thompson are set to form exploratory committees. Also Chris Dodd is coming out swinging.