thedrifter
05-19-08, 10:45 AM
Sen. Webb Writes His Own Story
By Neil Simon, Media General News Service
May 19 2008 |
WASHINGTON-One of the first things you see in Sen. Jim Webb's office is a picture from November 9, 2006.
Webb is smiling and raising his Marine son's combat boots in victory, having just been elected to the Senate.
But in a book being released today, Webb writes of that moment: "I literally felt like I was stepping out of a sewer."
From his disdain for the nastiness of politics through his father's sadness when Webb left to serve in Vietnam, "A Time to Fight," Webb's 9th book, is part memoir and part policy paper. In an interview, Webb called it a "series of think pieces."
With Congress debating his GI bill and pundits talking him up as a potential Democratic vice president, Webb said the book was a way to write his own record.
The Outsider
The book portrays Webb as a Senate outsider.
"It's not always fun to be up here," though always an honor, he writes, calling the chamber's debates "impotent diatribes that signify little more than its own inability to govern."
But analysts say that outsider mentality and desire to speed up the legislative process has earned Webb respect.
"He's got hillbilly through and through," said Webb adviser David "Mudcat" Saunders. "If the guy told a lie, his tongue would fall out. That's refreshing."
University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato said, "He's been an influential senator from day one."
Colleagues call Webb a diligent lawmaker who won't lend his support to a bill without careful consideration.
"He doesn't speak on or get involved in something he doesn't know about," said Rep. Jim Moran, D-8th, who sought Webb's support on Indian affairs legislation, only to be temporarily rebuffed while the senator thoroughly studied the issue and then came on board.
Military Man
"A Time to Fight" touts Webb's military experience as a combat Marine in Vietnam through his days in the Pentagon.
Webb wrote personally about seeing civilian children die in Vietnam and his own father's disgust for that war.
"When I received my orders," Webb writes, "my father retired from active duty, telling me that he 'couldn't bear to watch it' while still wearing the uniform." It was the only time he saw his father - an Air Force colonel -- cry.
To veterans groups, Webb's personal story built trust.
"He's not just a guy who served in Vietnam and left the service," said Paul Rieckhoff, of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. "He's got his son's boots right there in his office, and it tells you, he gets it."
Many a Memo
"A Time to Fight" suggests Webb has "got it" since he was in his 20's.
From arguments to move bases in Asia, reduce troops in Europe, and add Marine representation on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Webb references a host of policy positions he drafted that fell on deaf ears at the time, only to become Pentagon policy decades later.
"At its highest levels the Pentagon is a political and not a military place," he wrote.
The current movement of more than 8,000 Marines from Okinawa, Japan to Guam was a Webb recommendation in 1974.
"There's a satisfaction in the sense that ... it's very logical in terms of our national position to do these things," Webb said.
His 1984 memo to increase the Navy's fleet "did not win any votes on the turf-oriented Joint Chiefs of Staff," Webb wrote, but the conviction "eventually led me to resign as Secretary of the Navy when a different approach was mandated."
When it comes to Iraq, readers will have seen the message before.
Webb quoted his own words from 2002: "Those who are pushing for unilateral war in Iraq know full well that there is no exit strategy if we invade and stay."
A Time to Fight
But for all Webb's past bipartisan work, Rep. Tom Davis III, R-11th, said Webb is now overtly political.
"He's turned into a rank partisan guy," said Davis, who has not ruled out a run for Webb's current Senate seat in 2012.
Some senators rise above partisanship, Davis said. "(Webb) just chose to take a different track."
Webb largely ignores such criticism.
He writes: "I spent eight years in my younger life as a boxer, and sometimes when I enter the chamber I think, This is the ring. The American people can see us here, and listen to our arguments. This is where the fights matter."
And right now no fight matters to him and veterans groups more than his GI bill.
"We are not as concerned with who picks the fight as who can carry it through," said Eric Hillman of Veterans of Foreign War. "He's proven himself as someone who can start it and finish it."
Ellie
By Neil Simon, Media General News Service
May 19 2008 |
WASHINGTON-One of the first things you see in Sen. Jim Webb's office is a picture from November 9, 2006.
Webb is smiling and raising his Marine son's combat boots in victory, having just been elected to the Senate.
But in a book being released today, Webb writes of that moment: "I literally felt like I was stepping out of a sewer."
From his disdain for the nastiness of politics through his father's sadness when Webb left to serve in Vietnam, "A Time to Fight," Webb's 9th book, is part memoir and part policy paper. In an interview, Webb called it a "series of think pieces."
With Congress debating his GI bill and pundits talking him up as a potential Democratic vice president, Webb said the book was a way to write his own record.
The Outsider
The book portrays Webb as a Senate outsider.
"It's not always fun to be up here," though always an honor, he writes, calling the chamber's debates "impotent diatribes that signify little more than its own inability to govern."
But analysts say that outsider mentality and desire to speed up the legislative process has earned Webb respect.
"He's got hillbilly through and through," said Webb adviser David "Mudcat" Saunders. "If the guy told a lie, his tongue would fall out. That's refreshing."
University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato said, "He's been an influential senator from day one."
Colleagues call Webb a diligent lawmaker who won't lend his support to a bill without careful consideration.
"He doesn't speak on or get involved in something he doesn't know about," said Rep. Jim Moran, D-8th, who sought Webb's support on Indian affairs legislation, only to be temporarily rebuffed while the senator thoroughly studied the issue and then came on board.
Military Man
"A Time to Fight" touts Webb's military experience as a combat Marine in Vietnam through his days in the Pentagon.
Webb wrote personally about seeing civilian children die in Vietnam and his own father's disgust for that war.
"When I received my orders," Webb writes, "my father retired from active duty, telling me that he 'couldn't bear to watch it' while still wearing the uniform." It was the only time he saw his father - an Air Force colonel -- cry.
To veterans groups, Webb's personal story built trust.
"He's not just a guy who served in Vietnam and left the service," said Paul Rieckhoff, of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. "He's got his son's boots right there in his office, and it tells you, he gets it."
Many a Memo
"A Time to Fight" suggests Webb has "got it" since he was in his 20's.
From arguments to move bases in Asia, reduce troops in Europe, and add Marine representation on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Webb references a host of policy positions he drafted that fell on deaf ears at the time, only to become Pentagon policy decades later.
"At its highest levels the Pentagon is a political and not a military place," he wrote.
The current movement of more than 8,000 Marines from Okinawa, Japan to Guam was a Webb recommendation in 1974.
"There's a satisfaction in the sense that ... it's very logical in terms of our national position to do these things," Webb said.
His 1984 memo to increase the Navy's fleet "did not win any votes on the turf-oriented Joint Chiefs of Staff," Webb wrote, but the conviction "eventually led me to resign as Secretary of the Navy when a different approach was mandated."
When it comes to Iraq, readers will have seen the message before.
Webb quoted his own words from 2002: "Those who are pushing for unilateral war in Iraq know full well that there is no exit strategy if we invade and stay."
A Time to Fight
But for all Webb's past bipartisan work, Rep. Tom Davis III, R-11th, said Webb is now overtly political.
"He's turned into a rank partisan guy," said Davis, who has not ruled out a run for Webb's current Senate seat in 2012.
Some senators rise above partisanship, Davis said. "(Webb) just chose to take a different track."
Webb largely ignores such criticism.
He writes: "I spent eight years in my younger life as a boxer, and sometimes when I enter the chamber I think, This is the ring. The American people can see us here, and listen to our arguments. This is where the fights matter."
And right now no fight matters to him and veterans groups more than his GI bill.
"We are not as concerned with who picks the fight as who can carry it through," said Eric Hillman of Veterans of Foreign War. "He's proven himself as someone who can start it and finish it."
Ellie