"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." - Jim Webb, WSJ October 19, 2004
If you missed Jim Webb's masterful appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe today, you missed the launch of Jim Webb's amazing (non)campaign for VP and possibly the beginning of one of the most important political realignments of modern times.
Webb: Black, Scots-Irish Americans "Tortured Siblings"
This was a fantastic appearance for the Senator, in which he lays out the critical opportunity for the Obama campaign within the Scots-Irish communities of Appalachia.
First the question from Pat Buchanan, the man who, with Richard Nixon, began stripping lower-income whites away from the New Deal coalition waaaay back in 1964:
Pat Buchanan: Senator Webb, let me ask you about Kentucky in light of what we have all been talking about and that's the people of Appalachia and that's the Scotch[sic]-Irish, the people you write in the book, "Born Fighting" where you go back to their history. The plantation in northern Ireland, what they are like and what they believe and what their hopes and dreams are. What is your assessment of how the democratic party if the nominee is Barack Obama, can win back these folks? Because if he loses them, you got a huge slice all the way from Pennsylvania all the way down to Mississippi that may be out of reach for the democratic party.
Watch Webb's masterful response, which is one part sociology and two parts what the Democrats have been missing for 30 years! First the sociology...
Senator Jim Webb: Well, this is a very powerful cultural group that is always underestimated and not simply in the Appalachian mountains. But the original settlement that I wrote about began in Pennsylvania. Went into central Pennsylvania, went right down the Appalachian mountains into northern Georgia, Alabama. Then spilled west. They formed sort of the core group in terms of value systems for working class white America.
...then, the critical insight that has eluded the Democratic party for a generation:
And we shouldn't be surprised at the way they are voting right now. And the reason that I would say that is, Black America and Scotch-Irish America are like tortured siblings. They both have long history and they both missed the boat when it came to all of the larger benefits a lot of other people were able to receive. There's a saying in the Appalachian mountains, they say to one another, "if you are poor and white, you are out of sight." So the fact that they would line up and vote this way is not so much a comment on Barack Obama. I think Barack Obama is saying a lot of good things that will appeal to this cultural group in time.
This is a long-held argument Webb began promoting on the campaign trail when he visited New Orleans after Katrina, but it's a message he began to cultivate long before that. Less educated, lower-income whites have much more in common with black America than nearly any other distinct group in the country, yet the two have been voting on opposing sides of the aisle for a long time. There's a better way and a real opportunity to unite them. The division hasn't been racism. It's that lower income whites have been left out, have been preferred against by the expansion of Affirmative Action. In fact, the sick, sad, irony of the issue may be that the very charge of racism itself against the Scots-Irish may have driven them more strongly into the Republican camp, much to their own and our detriment as a nation.
But that division is not racism:
...But this is not, when I hear people say this is racism, I, my back gets up a little bit because that's my cultural group. This isn't Selma, 1965. This is the result of how affirmative action which was basically a justifiable concept when it applied to African-Americans expanded to every single ethnic group in America that was not whites. And these were the people who had never received benefits and were though the getting anything out of it. So they are basically saying hey, let's pay attention to what has happened with this cultural group in terms of opportunities. And the key thing is, i wrote a piece in the "wall street journal" right before the 2004 election and i said if this cultural group could get at the same table with black America, you could change populist American politics. Because they have so much in common in terms of what each group needs out of government.
Morning Joe reaches over to the independents and disaffected republicans who will determine the outcome of November's elections and these folks were fawning over Jim Webb. If Pat Buchanan understands, listens to and respects Jim Webb, then an entire generation of "Reagan Democrats" may follow suit. This is a message that the world needs to hear, and precisely what Obama laid out in his landmark speech on Race back in April. Webb has mapped out a strategy to bring the nation together while giving Obama/Webb fantastic legs for the fall: a real chance to challenge republicanism deep into the south. Obama and Webb both see both sides of the race divide and have the language to close the chasm. With Webb as the Democratic evangelist to southern whites, Obama/Webb could be a landslide victory. Even more significantly, it could deliver down-ticket victories so strongly that Obama could enter the white house with a bigger Democratic mandate than JFK, the biggest since FDR.
Brilliant.
These are exciting times indeed.
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The non-news show appearances of the last few days, like Letterman, may actually be the most impactful in introducing the many virtues of Jim Webb to those who don't know him or don't know much about him.
Of them all, in terms of speaking directly to the Middle America heartland, the cover of Parade can't be beat.
I would have to seriously reconsider trusting Senator Obama's judgment if he does NOT pick Senator Webb as his running mate. If there were ever a match made in heaven ...
Look at all the components (the web, the bloggo-sphere, the themes). Look at Obama's populist message, his foreign policy positions, his sense of social justice, etc. ... Taken together it's paralleled the Webb campaign.
Webb will be his first choice. Obama knows how to make up and guide a team (just like a pick up basketball game). Will Jim Webb (who more often then not has been the lone man in the arena) accept the offer and be a team player?
Webb must decide if he wants to have an immediate and lasting impact on the body politic. I'd say yes as long as these two men can come to terms with their roles and responsibilities.
Obama Webb 2008!
Good for him. This is the guy I want in that job.
He truly sees himself as a transitional character in American politics. He includes the history of military culture, and white culture, and his presence on the Democratic ticket would imply to white America that knee-jerk charges of racism will no longer be tolerated in American politics. White America has an honest complaint with in regards to fairness. Webb's work in the military has helped to form his worldview. His leadership on Veterans issues gives him credibility, and his voice paired with Obama's could heal this rift.
I can't believe we're actually talking about healing the racial issues that have plagued this country since the beginning.
I'm just rambling, but I'm glad you're onboard, Jack.