First impressions: Jim Webb has resume, needs excitement

Some Democrats hunger for an alternative to the party’s presumed nominee, Hillary Clinton. Some suggest Jim Webb could be that candidate.

On paper, Webb looks impressive. He’s a genuine war hero — he received a chest-full of medals for his service in Vietnam — who opposed the invasion of Iraq. He’s neither a career politician nor is he easy to peg ideologically: He served as President Ronald Reagan’s secretary of the Navy and one term in the Senate as a Democrat.

Webb has been pressing issues for years that candidates on the right and left are now trumpeting: criminal justice reform, income inequality and the need to pivot militarily and diplomatically to East Asia. And he could attract white working-class voters, whom he says the Democratic Party has ignored. He’s a defender of gun rights and an advocate for veterans, Vietnamese immigrants and the Scots-Irish Appalachian stock from which he descends.

All of that makes him compelling, and Webb deserves to be taken seriously. So far, however, he has failed to generate much excitement. His poll numbers are low. He’s attracted small crowds in his Iowa appearances.

Webb, 69, says he’ll decide by the end of the month whether to announce his candidacy, although he was the first well-known Democrat to form an exploratory committee.

In a meeting with the Register’s editorial board this week, he argued that voters should look for a candidate who is best qualified as commander in chief. He points to his foreign-policy and military experience and “clear-eyed leadership” as proof of those qualifications.

The other principal requirement of a president, he said, “is to manage this byzantine executive branch.” He calls for bottom-up reviews of federal programs, although he has no “laundry list” of cuts. He vowed to preserve the largest parts of the federal budget — Social Security and Medicare — and did not acknowledge the serious solvency issues facing entitlement programs.

He won’t win over many Democrats who put climate change at the top of their agenda. In the Senate, he supported the coal industry and opposed efforts to limit carbon emissions. He told the editorial board that the U.S. is in a “good place,” particularly in efforts to promote wind and other renewable energy sources. His priority: Pressing China and other countries to meet the same emissions standards.

As a senator, Webb took criminal justice reform “out of the shadows” and proposed a national commission to study incarceration rates and arrest and sentencing disparities. Republicans defeated the bill but now propose a similar commission, he said.

Webb spoke of the need to restore the American dream for poor people, whether they live in largely black West Baltimore or white Clay County, Ky. “People need to feel they have a shot,” he said.

He dreams of a post-racial America and a Democratic Party that advocates for all working people.

In the Wall Street Journal in 2004, Webb wrote: “The greatest realignment in modern politics would take place rather quickly if the right national leader found a way to bring the Scots-Irish and African-Americans to the same table, and so to redefine a formula that has consciously set them apart for the past two centuries.”

Is Webb that leader? If so, he must articulate bold ideas that can excite caucusgoers. It’s hard to imagine him inciting passionate crowds such as those that follow Sen. Bernie Sanders, let alone attracting the money that flows to Clinton.

For a former Marine, Webb pulls his punches a lot while campaigning. He’s not been shy to criticize Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush in the past. But in our editorial board meeting, he declined to point out Hillary Clinton’s vulnerabilities or elaborate on his remark about Secretary of State John Kerry’s “jet-setting diplomacy.”

Webb doesn’t seem to savor the bloodsport of politics. Perhaps that’s another reason to give him a chance.

First impressions

About this series: The Des Moines Register has invited all declared candidates for president to meet with the editorial board. After each meeting, we will publish editorials giving our impressions of the candidates.

Jim Webb file

Personal biography: Born Feb. 9, 1946, in St. Joseph, Mo. He lives in northern Virginia with his wife, Hong Le Webb. He has five children and one step-child, and has been divorced twice.

Education: Bachelor’s degree, 1968, U.S. Naval Academy. Law degree, 1975, Georgetown University.

Career: U.S. senator from Virginia, 2007-2013. Secretary of the Navy; assistant secretary of defense for reserve affairs; counsel to the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. Served as a rifle platoon and company commander in Vietnam and was awarded the Navy Cross, the Silver Star Medal, two Bronze Star Medals and two Purple Hearts. Author of 10 books. Emmy-winning journalist.