How Do You Like that Jim Webb?

Jim Webb: I won't vote for Clinton, but I may for Trump https://t.co/wKs9uJW2hw | AP photo pic.twitter.com/0nnei273q2

— POLITICO (@politico) March 4, 2016

I was making jokes about how he was running as a Democrat as if he would like to spit, but I have to say, if you wouldn't support the Democratic nominee and are, in fact, Trump-curious, you probably aren't actually a Democrat.

Jim Webb has Left the Democratic Primary

It was probably asking too much to continue running to theoretically be the leader of a party that seemed to freak him out a little. I'm not sure what his odds are if he decides to run as an Independent. There are a lot of people who call themselves Independents, but I think they mostly fit into two categories: people who don't want to identify with either party, but generally tend to vote for one or the other consistently and people who don't vote.

He might make a pretty good Secretary of Defense, though.

So, former US Sen Jim Webb...Problem?

The entry of former US Senator from VA Jim Webb to the Democratic primary race actually had me a little jazzed as far as foreign policy goes. I think he's articulate and reasonable on foreign policy issues, and makes the Democratic primary debate about more than just the economic front. He's serious and in my opinion--a "non-stupid". But there is just a little hitch about how he entered the 2016 Primary:

“I believe we can bring a different tone to the Democratic party,” Webb told Fox News’ Bret Baier. “You’re right, the party has moved way far to the left. That’s not my Democratic Party in and of itself. We need to bring working people back into the formula.”

Webb pointed to poor whites in the Appalachia section of Southwestern Virginia who lack medical care and said, “These are people who have been forgotten by both parties and I think they need a voice.” Sanders’ surge is driven largely by college-educated whites, who were also the core support base for Warren.

Now, I am totally down with getting more people access to healthcare--which has been why I have supported the ACA. And if there is a tweak that gets the poor folks in Appalachia covered, that would tickle me blue (part of my family moved east from the SW PA hills), But I find it a lot more likely that the Democratic party would try to find that solution than, you know, the other guys. I don't think the fault is that the Democratic Party moved "too left"--it's that we're negotiating anymore with the hard right. So the language that says that the Democratic party has "moved way too far to the left" leaves me cold. If he wants to campaign with a (D) after his name, that approach is puzzling.

Now I do know that it echoes Ronald Reagan's claim that the "Democratic Party left him". But Reagan came to that epiphany as a well-paid Hollywood actor and left the Democratic Party. He said that as a Republican. Sen. Webb purports to say that and then run on the Democratic ticket. One could ell develop feelings about that. Because as a part of "the Left", I might like to know in exactly what ways the current-day party is "too left". And I might also like to know, in our current discourse, how getting more access to health care is managed in a way that isn't "too left" for some, but "just right" for most.

Otherwise, I might accuse him of pandering to middle class whites without an actual plan.