A plausible dark horse for president
Jim Webb is no jovial backslapper. I vividly remember a scene at a northern Virginia ballroom in 2006 when he was running for the U.S. Senate against incumbent George Allen (R). Allen was feverishly working the room, greeting every potential voter with a big smile and a hearty handshake. They were soon to debate each other and Allen sought to connect with the prosperous business group before lunch by making that all-important personal encounter a memorable one.
Webb couldn’t be more different. He sat at his table and calmly ate his lunch. When voters came up to him to talk, he immediately rose and spoke to them and always introduced them to his wife. He was genial and unhurried in his conversation, but there was no backslapping. Jim Webb just doesn’t operate that way. As Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) has said, he is the “non-candidate.”
Now, the question can be rightly asked: How can the “non-candidate” possibly or realistically run as the ultimate candidate for the ultimate office — president of the United States?
Webb doesn’t seem to care or be bothered by that one bit. He is possessed with supreme self-confidence. To say that he is comfortable in his own skin would be stating the obvious. I believe it has to do with his eclectic and accomplished background.
{mosads}A Naval Academy graduate; a much-decorated Vietnam combat veteran; a lawyer; a successful and praised fiction writer; a former secretary of the Navy; and former U.S. senator. Webb seems to have done it all in his 68 years. Now he is “exploring” and speaking as if he is about to be an official candidate for the presidency.
A former Republican, he is going for a part of the Democratic Party which he says has been forgotten. Making economic fairness and the “immense ever-growing disparities” his major tenet, Webb seeks to capture a wing of the Democratic Party.
At the same time, he is going after white male voters. In some ways, Webb is the “macho” candidate. Candid and gutsy, he also wants to reform the criminal justice system and talks about sentencing reform. That might appeal to African-Americans, as well.
Another sector of the party where Democrats have been getting clobbered is rural voters. Webb is proud of his Scots-Irish lineage and talks about his grandparents’ impoverished background and the role President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal played in improving their lives.
His pro-gun views and past published writings against racial quotas and preferences might alienate traditional liberals, but what Webb is selling most is his maverick, in-your-face authenticity. Unlike Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) or Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), he wants to be viewed as more electable in a general election. This is no handholding, ever-smiling, joke-cracking politician. His entire demeanor is all business.
Webb’s major challenge: Will he make enough personal adjustments to woo those Democrats who participate in those caucuses and primaries? Will he make those fundraising calls? Will he shake hands even though he doesn’t want to?
Webb is an individual of formidable intellect and presence. Will the Democrats who actually turn out to vote be moved to join up with such an untraditional candidate? Hillary Clinton, should she choose to run, should not underestimate Jim Webb.
Plotkin is a political analyst and a contributor to the BBC on American politics.