Can you all stand just *one more* thread about Hillary/RFK?

[Zomby Woof]

I can't either, so let me plug the new book by Senator Jim Webb of Virginia, A Time To Fight: Reclaiming A Fair and Just America.

From the press release (emphasis provided is mine):


“I’m the only person in the history of Virginia elected to statewide office with a Union card, two Purple Hearts, and three tattoos."

Jim Webb — the bestselling author and now the celebrated, outspoken U.S. Senator from Virginia - presents a clear-eyed, hard-hitting plan of attack for putting government to work for the people, rather than special interests, and for restoring the country's standing around the world.

Infused with the intelligence, force, and firebrand style that has earned Senator Jim Webb enormous national attention from his earlest days in office, A Time to Fight offers a thorough and provocative assessment of the thorniest issues Americans face today, along with cogent solutions drawn from Webb's lifetime of experience as a much-decorated Marine, a widely traveled, award-winning journalist and novelist, a Senator with a son who fought as a Marine in Iraq and, perhaps most important, a proud scion of America's vast but frequently ignored working class.

Webb exposes how America has entered a dangerous, unprecedented cycle of seemingly unsolvable unknowns. Our economic policies, particularly in this age of globalization, have produced widely divergent results leading to a country calcifying along class lines. Our demographic makeup has been altered dramatically and is set to keep on changing, through both legal and illegal immigration. Our editorialists and politicians talk about the American dream, and some urge us to bring democracy to the rest of the world. But more than two million Americans are now in prison, by far the highest incarceration rate in the so-called advanced world. Our foreign policy is confused, without clear direction; increasingly vulnerable to such largely unexamined long-term threats as China's emerging power while it has become bogged down in the never-ending struggles of the Middle East. As this drift toward societal regression has taken place, America's leadership has largely been paralyzed, unable or unwilling to stop the slide. "Where are the leaders?" Webb asks. "Has our political process become so compromised by powerful interest groups and the threat of character assassination that even the best among us will not dare to speak honestly about the solutions that might bring us back to common sense and fundamental fairness?"

Through vivid personal narratives of the struggles members of his family faced, and citing the courageous actions of presidents ranging from Andrew Jackson to Teddy Roosevelt to Dwight Eisenhower, A Time to Fight provides specific, viable ideas for restoring fairness to our economic system, correcting the direction of national security efforts, ending America's military occupation of Iraq, and developing greater government accountability. Webb brings a fresh perspective to political dynamics that have shaped our country. His stirring, populist manifesto calls upon voters to make the choices that will change America for the better in this election season.



When it comes time for Senator Obama to make his pick for the second slot on the ticket, I would be very pleased if it were Senator Webb. He's the kind of Trumanesque fighter our party needs. He will not allow Senator Obama or himself to be 'swiftboated'. Webb gets it when it comes to Iraq and the economy, THE two most pressing issues of the present.

Obama/Webb 2008? Why the hell not? If I were in Vegas, I would put good odds on it.

[Johnny__Motown]

1. Nice... thanks

[Swamp Rat]

2. WRONG FORUM!

:D

Good book.

Obama/Webb is an EXCELLENT choice!

[MadBadger]

3. But I havent added my two cents yet :-(

[kenny blankenship]

4. Thank You

and thank you.

[hfojvt]

5. dang it, I was willing to stand it if it came with Zombycoffee

and I open the thread - no coffee. :argh:

that's unforgiveable!

[jus_the_facts]

6. Heh...I got to recommend you to the greatest page....

:hi: :loveya:

[al bupp]

7. A welcome respite it is, sir

Here's a bump for the sentiments of Mr Webb.

[Az_lefty]

8. I like it....thanks

[Zomby Woof]

9. An excerpt

Again, with my emphasis added:


But the one connecting dot in all of my experiences has been a passion for history and a desire to learn from it. Not the enumeration of monarchs and treaties that so often passes for academic knowledge, but the surging vitality from below that so often impels change and truly defines cultures. The novelist Leo Tolstoy wrote vividly about war and peace, showing us the drawing rooms and idiosyncrasies of Russia's elite. But in reality, he was telling us that great societal changes are most often pushed along by tsunami-deep impulses that cause the elites to react far more than they inspire them to lead. And this, in my view, is the greatest lesson of political history. Entrenched aristocracies, however we may want to define them, do not want change; their desire instead is to manage dissent in a way that does not disrupt their control. But over time, under the right system of government, a free, thinking people has the energy and ultimately the power to effect change.