Oh, wait: was I supposed to be impressed that Senator Webb’s trash-talking the President’s Obamacare strategy now?
“I’ll be real frank here,” Webb said at a Bloomberg News breakfast, according to The Washington Post. “I think that the manner in which the health-care reform issue was put in front of the Congress, the way that the issue was dealt with by the White House, cost Obama a lot of credibility as a leader.”
Well, if we’re going to “be real frank here” then just let me pipe up: like Senator Webb I knew that the way that Obamacare was shoved down our collective throats was grotesque. In fact, like Senator Webb I knew it at the time. But it’s not my name listed among the Yea votes on Obamacare; it’s Senator Webb’s. That’s because he’s the junior Senator from Virginia and I am not. And one reason why I’m not the junior Democratic Senator from Virginia and Senator Webb is is because Senator Webb was willing and ready to pander to liberal Democrats – the same kind of people who spit on his troops in the Vietnam era – in order to get that Senate seat.
And notice that Webb is not particularly contrite about his role in all of this. Apparently the problem is not that it’s a bad idea to give the state as much control over health care as Obamacare did; the problem is that it was badly sold. And one of the people that was out there selling was, of course, Jimmy Webb. But it’s easy to blame the White House. Safer to one’s political aspirations, too – particularly if somebody’s planning to jump ship again. In other words, this entire statement is pretty much the equivalent of a “Sorry I got caught:” and I have no tolerance for people who offer up fake contrition.
Moe Lane
PS: Although… this was a pretty strong backstab. Even more so then the one he did against George W Bush, as part of Webb’s general pandering to the race-baiters and associated identity politics crowd during the 2006 race. I wonder what’s different about Obama, to cause this public and severe a break… Oh.
Right.
Eww, Jimmy. There’s reverting to your roots, and then there’s pretending that the last 150 years didn’t actually happen…
PPS: Don’t look at me like that: we already suspected that the man has a bit of a problem when it comes to the Jews.
There’s the theory that the SC decision has leaked, and that Barney Frank’s claiming he told Obama that pushing Obamacare was the wrong thing to do is Barney trying to disassociate himself, leaving the sinking ship. Is Senator Webb doing the same thing?
I don’t see the upside for Webb. He’s not running for re-election, there’s not even a faint rumor that he’s going to run for Governor, and I can’t think of any scenario in which the RPV would want him back even if he were to pull a Specter and try to switch parties again.