What do you call a person who complains about a situation he helped perpetuate? I’m trying to come up with a label to apply to Jim Webb, former Senator, and occasional jerk. I recall the time he made a big show about lecturing George Bush about the Iraq war. Another time when he let one of his aides take the fall for carrying a gun in Washington DC. Unlike Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, Jim Webb was never reluctant to show his wounds and rode his military decorations to public prominence and public office. There is rarely a time when he does not take the opportunity to refer to his military past. However, once home, he appears to have left his political courage on the battlefield, preferring to attack people who were in no position to fight back.
Now safely retired he has decided to blame an amorphous “Congress” for giving up its constitutional power to the President. Here’s his essay from the National Interest and a column by George Will.
However, unlike Rand Paul, Jim Webb never faced down the Senate or even members of his own party while he was there. Instead, he engaged in navel gazing and dealt with minutia while he held the position that he could have used to make a difference. Webb, the “military hero” was a faithful member of the Democrat troop that surrendered its constitutional powers to the President without as much as a whimper. Say what you will about Rand Paul, an ophthalmologist with no military medals, he has demonstrated that he is willing to stand on principle and is not interested in being a cog in a political machine. Less than a year after leaving office, it’s hard to recall what impact Webb had while in office; what legislation he sponsored or what causes he espoused. Meanwhile Paul, a freshman senator like Webb, has already made a name for himself and forced the Executive branch to acknowledge that there is, somewhere, a limit to its power.
Jim Webb was once decorated for a military action in which he played a major role. After that he appears to have found it much, much safer to snipe from the sidelines. It’s much safer to write an article for the National Interest than to do actual battle in the Senate.
Jim Webb was once decorated for a military action in which he played a major role. After that he appears to have found it much, much safer to snipe from the sidelines. It’s much safer to write an article for the National Interest than to do actual battle in the Senate.
9 comments:
Jim Webb lost even the minimum respect he might have earned after his blasting President Bush in a reception. The President was truly concerned about Webb's son, and Webb used it as an opportunity to grandstand.
Jim Webb's biggest accomplishment has been writing "Lost Soldiers" where he describes oral sex with a little boy.
What a great guy.
I lost all respect for him after the gun incident. If he's so willing to let one of his own staff be arrested for something he did, what hope did we have?
He campaigned on one thing: opposing Bush. Once Obama got into office his entire reason for being there was gone, as apparently his spine.
Thank you so much for putting this into words. You've placed your finger directly upon the problem with the Senators we've elected from our beloved Old Dominion: cowardice. Once a hero is only once a hero. Courage is only in the moment. Webb, Warner, and now I'm afraid we will find Kaine to be political cowards, unable to stand for us against the rising tide of federal power mongering. We the people must be more courageous than our leaders if we are to put an end to the tyranny of the elect over the electorate.
I accepted that he bore some resemblance to the character he created in 'A Sense of Honor'. I was mistaken. Webb never stood up for anything at all as an office holder.
I realized long ago that Webb was a blowhard. He was appointed to replace the great John Lehman as SecNav in 1986, and lasted less than a year. He resigned in a spectacular flourish over some relatively meaningless differences with Cap Weinberger over the navy's budget, less than a year after taking office. Right away I knew he was a man without a chest.
Webb did write a useful if not surprising depiction of where Congress is today.
BUT, BUT, BUT, I wonder where Webb's voice was while he worked on the plantation, doing his master's bidding.
Jim Webb, successful man; Naval Academy graduate, combat warrior, lawyer, SecNav, principled departee' from government during the Reagan Administration, Pulitzer winning author, script writer, author, inter alia, of "Born Fighting." A man in search of a mission, decided to run for and won the confidence and trust of constituents, a position as a Senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia.
As a Senator and more importantly as a United States MARINE, positions considered to among the most exclusive "clubs" in the world, he was similar to many of his constituents whom, like me and perhaps others reading this comment, took a durable oath to "solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same."
We, his constituents, looked to his candidacy and eventual election as Senator for the Great Commonwealth of Virginia as an opportunity for a man of distinguished performance and renown character to bring a sense of civility, maturity and intellect to the Senate.
Alas, we were all too stunned with his lock-step support for the administration that has proven itself to be the furthest to the left, most socialist and anti-American administration, of all time.
Indeed, on any one of a significant number of votes, Jim Webb could have stood in the breech, defending the honor and integrity of the American Way Of Life. Like so many of his forebears, he could have recalled that he was born fighting and would likely (metaphorically) die fighting, but at least he would be remembered as fighting for America.
As it is, I believe he will be remembered as a lackluster one-term senator from Virginia, who accomplished nothing of substance during his six years in the Senate.
His service in the Senate, probably the last time he will be in government, will be that for which he will most remembered. Some will hold the view that he was a traitor to the Constitution of the United States of America and to the ideals of the American Republic; I am not unsympathetic to that view. But, perhaps calling him a traitor is too unforgiving, given his previous service.
Thus, I will recall Webb as a disappointment of colossal proportions, of a magnitude perhaps only exceeded by his ego.
The article that Will approves of, though well written, is a bit too late. At this point, it seems to be an act of disavowal of the process he most agreeably participated in for six years (errr, that is, to deny everything, admit nothing and blame the other guy).
What a piece of errr, work, he is.
What do you call a person who complains about a situation he helped perpetuate?
A webbist.
snafubar said...
Jim Webb's biggest accomplishment has been writing "Lost Soldiers" where he describes oral sex with a little boy.
2nd biggie: provided the 60th vote for Obamacare.
Webb takes quite a few high handed moral positions in his books.
With his 60th vote on Obamacare he lost any claim to patriotism or morally.
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