‘He’s a failed president’

December 20, 2006

Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D) recently told the WaPo that Sen.-elect Jim Webb (D-Va) doesn’t have the “finesse” of most experienced politicians and isn’t a “backslapper.” Webb acknowledged around the time that he’s not particularly interested in ingratiating himself to the president.

Webb continues to make that perfectly clear all the time.

“He’s a failed president,” Webb said, when asked what he thinks of Bush. “He has two years to try to show some true leadership when it comes to rehabilitating the image of the United States around the world.

“I warned three months before we went into Iraq that we were squandering an historic opportunity to keep almost the entire world with us in the war against international terrorism. And we have failed utterly to do that. It is now up to us – and that hopefully includes the president – to try and remediate the situation in a way that will enhance the stability in the Middle East and rehabilitate our relationship with countries around the world.”

Webb also touched on the “that’s not what I asked you” controversy.

Webb confirmed the exchange with Bush on Tuesday, but said he was not trying to insult the president and would be willing to work with him next year.

“I have declined to answer personal questions about my son in a political context,” Webb said in explaining his response to Bush. “All I was doing was trying to curtail a conversation. I said nothing publicly about it at all until the story was leaked, I think by the White House. I’m happy to go over and have breakfast with President Bush, if he wants to have breakfast.”

I’m sure there are some in DC who’d prefer to see Webb tone his comments down a bit, but it’s refreshing to hear someone with a fighting progressive spirit call it like he sees it.

I for one think the way Webb “tells it like it is” is great! My friends can’t stand politics becuase of the wishy washy way most politicians speak and act. Instead of being afraid of what Webb says, they should emulate him. He speaks like a true leader. 2008 contenders pay attention.

  • Jim Webb is hardly a “progressive spirit,” but none of the issues Democrats traditionally lose on are as non-negotiable as the Iraq war, which is why telling truth to power is nonetheless refreshing.

  • Before “having breakfast with the President,” Webb should challenge Bush to prove that he’s the President by demonstrating that he’s earned the respect that goes with that particular title….

  • He’s a failed president because he’s a failure as a human being–a perfect storm of stupidity, arrogance, corruption and entitlement. Don’t look to him to ever show anything that resembles leadership. The charge now is just to contain his destructive influence for the next two years. Bush’s only hope now is for God to intervene; the historic equivalent of winning the lottery. With the same odds.

  • At a time when we desperately need people to tell the truth, Webb is the real deal. The more I hear about him, the better I like him. I may not always agree with Webb, but this post shows he understands diplomacy, on many levels, better than anyone in the current White House.

  • I agree with Roehl Sybing (# 2 above). I would add only that I hope Webb’s boldness in speaking truth to power and willingness to break with inside-the-Beltway niceties and caution will enspire more “progressive spirits” to do the same, both with respect to Iraq and other issues.

  • McCain, meet the new Straight Talk Express.

    Anyone else see Webb highlighting the differences between the new McCain (now with more KowTow!) and the old Mavrick?

  • Our “friends” on the right are forever coming right out with their version of the truth. They are blunt and it is just fine with everybody, no matter how unhinged, intolerant, or just plain wrong the comments may be. One Dem just says – politely – what everyone including war supporters should be thinking, which is that it would be good to get our troops home, and it touches off a media firestorm.

    The agreed media narrative is that it is expected of Republicans, and unsavory of Democrats. No more of this expectation please.

    -Chief

  • I’m sure that presidential breakfast invitation is in the mail, what with Bush reaching out to all the conservative Dems nowadays.

    Heh.

    And why the hell can’t all the Dems speak this clearly? WTF is wrong with you people? Bush is less popular than any president in recent memory, and Webb sticks out when he calls Bush a failure?

  • Bush in a statement this morning referred to his hope that the people of the Middle East were hoping for a “peaceful existency” [sic].

    What’s attractive about Webb — and Dean and too few others — is that he’s an honest person. Bush is not. One of the symptoms is the disengagement of mind from mouth. He exists within a blur of lies, coverups, and word jazz. But damn — the lies and word jazz have become political currency right through Washington and beyond. When someone like Webb speaks we stare at him because clarity is so rare.

  • “…some conservatives have faulted Webb for an impolitic tone toward the president and questioned his fitness for the clubby Senate, where collegiality and compromise are considered essential…”

    Like when the Republicans reached for the nuclear option? That kind of collegiality and compromise?

    Frickin’ media whores.

  • Racerx: sometimes I wonder why these goofs are so careless when it comes to nuclear weapons, as if their use will not have dire ramifications the world over. I think it has something to do with lack of intellect and poor understanding (“science is for leftist losers!”) of just how terrible nuclear weapons are.

    There simply isn’t a “surgical strike” option when using nuclear weapons as nuclear fallout is easily spread by the weather and large masses of people flee in terror from the area outside of the [very large] blast radius.

    I think the Chernobyl disaster serves as a chilling example–and that wasn’t even a weapon!

    Jim Webb’s character serves us well. I hope he doesn’t lose it over the next six years.

  • “Jim Webb is hardly a “progressive spirit,” ” – Roehl Sybing

    No, he’s a populist, not a progressive. If the two can come to an accomidation on Trade, then populists are what the Democratic party needs to break into and shatter the Repubilican’ts lock on the South. Thus I am perfectly happy to have Jim on board as my junior senator even if I suspect we don’t share opinions on every issue.

    “I’m sure there are some in DC who’d prefer to see Webb tone his comments down a bit…” – CB

    Well screw them. Jim’s my senator, not theirs.

  • So, Kaine says Webb lacks the “finesse” of most experienced politicians and isn’t a “backslapper.” Good. I get the impression that Webb is more than capable of being civil when civility is warranted. He just doesn’t suffer fools and liars — or those who value finesse and backslapping over duty. Neither do I, nor, I suspect, do most readers of this blog.

    If we had had a bunch more like Webb in the Senate a couple years ago, we wouldn’t be in Iraq today.

  • If Webb was angling to get a breakfast invitation to the White House calling Junior a failed president wasn’t the best approach. Nonetheless, it’s good to see someone say the things which most of us are thinking. My hat goes off to Webb.

    As far as Webb’s progressive credentials go, they may be thin but remember his recent WSJ piece was outstanding. Here is billmon’s take on it.

  • “When someone like Webb speaks we stare at him because clarity is so rare.”-PW

    The contrast between Webb and most of Washington makes our usual national politics look shabby, corrupt, and ruinous. The swamp culture is a product of the way most politicans regularly lie and distort . When clear communication is the norm, the swamp will be drained.

  • Jim Webb is hardly a “progressive spirit,” but none of the issues Democrats traditionally lose on are as non-negotiable as the Iraq war, which is why telling truth to power is nonetheless refreshing.

    Perhaps you ought to “read the memo” before demonstrating so publicly that you’re using outdated information.

    I would specifically refer you to Webb’s post-election speech about social class in America, which is about as populist-progressive as you can get outside of a speech by John Edwards, and certainly beats the socks off the rest of the limousine liberals in its assessment of what economic conditions are doing to the average American.

    You can find a report on this by searching this site on the words “Jim Webb” (what? you thought I’d do it all for you? I’m not that big a believer in the nanny state. :-))

  • Here’s why Bush is a failed President (and it also explains why people like Jim Webb):

    Dr. Harry G. Frankfurt, Ph.D., one of the world’s leading
    moral philosophers, wrote a heavy-duty philosophy tome that won
    awards and became a non-academic best seller two years ago – “On
    Bullshit” – in which he points out:

    “…bullshitters seek to convey a certain impression of
    themselves without being concerned about whether anything at
    all is true. They quietly change the rules governing their
    end of the conversation so that claims about truth and
    falsity are irrelevant. The difference between bullshitting
    and lying lies in the bullshitter’s complete disregard for
    whether what he’s saying corresponds to facts in the
    physical world: he does not reject the authority of the
    truth, as the liar does, and oppose himself to it. He pays
    no attention to it at all. By virtue of this, bullshit is a
    greater enemy of the truth than lies are.”

    With Webb, what you get is “no bullshit”, and that is indeed refreshing.

  • ” bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are”- Tom Cleaver

    We live in the age of instant bullshit.
    Spin doctoring has become the norm. Cable news routinely features two (or more) talking heads in little boxes in a bullshit contest over the topic of the day. How fitting the Presidential Press Secretary is Tony Snow, and the BillO’s “no-spin” zone is the epicenter of all bullshit.
    Any one who can deliver us from bullshit is a national treasure.

  • “We live in the age of instant bullshit.” – Kali

    True, ten years ago it took Bush 41 a whole day to start bullshitting about his signing a tax increase.

  • Unfortunately anyone running for POTUS has to have bullshitter skills, else he would be “slaughtered” by the bullshitters spin. People bullshit because it works.Sad but realpolitik.

  • I gave money to Webb’s campaign and did a little volunteer work for him. He is turning out just like I hoped.

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