US Senator Jim Webb is not going to run again. Politico‘s Ben Smith has the scoop.
Bad news is that Jim Webb has been a force for good in most of the issues I care about.
In particular, Webb has a tenacious view on the separation of powers between the Congress and Executive Branch.
When Hillary Clinton in her Senate role voted for the Kyl/Lieberman resolution on Iran — repeating in essence her mistake in supporting the Iraq War Resolution which George W. Bush used to imply as Congressional affirmation for his war, Webb put forward a resolution prohibiting funding for a war against Iran without explicit Congressional approval. To straddle different options and respond to an insurgency on her foreign policy advising team furious with her support of Kyl/Lieberman, Hillary Clinton jumped on Webb’s resolution too.
Jim Webb is also co-chair of the Congressional Study Group on Japan, a much neglected and taken for granted ally that deserves far more attention than it gets these days from Washington.
The good news is that we think tank types like Webb’s form of original thinking and hope to see him more — and of course, we hope he gets back to some writing for Parade Magazine.
— Steve Clemons
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