I still don't like Jackson

A neo-Jacksonian in our midst
In our opinion
01-30-2007

Meet the antidote to 30 years of conservatives' smears about their ideological opponents.

Watch him as he speaks truth to power, speaking up for the vast middle of America.

Listen to him speak following the president's State of the Union speech last Tuesday. He compares today's gulf between rich and poor to the early 1900s when “robber barons were unapologetically raking in a huge percentage of the national wealth” while “dispossessed workers at the bottom were threatening revolt.”

Consider how this Democratic senator's call to level the playing field hearkens to the Jacksonian era, when its namesake, Andrew Jackson, put power in the hands of the people during the first half of the 19th century. He's talking about the people, not about the markets. Tend to those folks in the middle and the bottom, he says, and let the top 1 percent fend for itself.

Label Sen. James Webb, D-Va., a neo-Jacksonian.

Watch as his star shines brightly in coming years.

Understand how he threatens three decades of conservative PR about Democrats.

Agree that Webb is no peacenik, no dovish Democrat. He went to Annapolis, served in 'Nam and has a son serving in Iraq. During the campaign with George Allen, Webb wore his boy's combat boots on the stump. Oh, and he's the former secretary of the Navy under Reagan.

Recognize his roots. He's Scots-Irish, through and through. He even wrote a book — “Born Fighting” — about the Scots-Irish in America and how they are an overlooked ethnic group with tremendous influence over U.S. culture.

Look at the red hair. Hear that Southern accent with the soft Virginia lilt.

Recall that Webb let it be known he wanted to “punch” George W. Bush after a recent discussion that turned red-hot when the president reportedly tried to tick off the junior senator from Virginia. That's where we get the “neo.” A real Jacksonian in Webb's boots would have challenged Bush to a duel or at the least carried through on his urge to throw a punch.

Appreciate how conservatives have successfully created the impression that folks like Jim Webb (or our own Calhoun County Commissioner Eli Henderson) don't exist. Meaning this deception pretends that there are not Democrats who love their country, are willing to serve it and long for strong national leadership that does believe in catering exclusively to the nation's elite. Under their caricature you are either a patriotic, Christian, gun-loving, tax-cut loving, war-hungry Republican or you are an effete, Volvo-driving, tax-and-spending, latte-sipping pacifist.

Salute Jim Webb and his potential neo-Jacksonian movement and reckon how it endangers the right's sleight of hand.

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