Jim Webb--Veep for Obama?
With his two Purple Hearts, three tattoos and spoiling-for-a-fight attitude, Sen. Jim Webb is emerging as the Democrats' point man on two of the most profound matters facing the electorate this November: national defense and the military.
A highly decorated war veteran who opposes the Iraq war, Sen. Webb is considered by many Democrats to be the best person to go into battle against another war hero, expected Republican nominee Sen. John McCain. The ex-Marine, who hails from the important swing state of Virginia, could also become Sen. Barack Obama's go-to person on national security, where the Democratic presidential candidate's résumé is weak compared with rival Sen. McCain's....
Descended from Scottish-Irish settlers who became pioneers in the Virginia mountains, Sen. Webb was born in Missouri into a military family that moved some 20 times during his childhood. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1968 and went into the Marine Corps, where he served as a rifle platoon and company commander in Vietnam. He earned several medals for valor including the Navy Cross, one of the military's highest honors, in part for using his own body to shield a fellow soldier from an exploding grenade.
After returning to the U.S. due to combat injuries, he became a staffer for then-Navy Secretary John Warner (who's now the senior senator from Virginia).
He graduated from law school, and then cycled through a series of congressional and Defense Department jobs dealing with veterans' issues, culminating in his 1987 appointment as Secretary of the Navy, though he quit in anger in 1988 over funding cutbacks.
Read entire article at WSJ
A highly decorated war veteran who opposes the Iraq war, Sen. Webb is considered by many Democrats to be the best person to go into battle against another war hero, expected Republican nominee Sen. John McCain. The ex-Marine, who hails from the important swing state of Virginia, could also become Sen. Barack Obama's go-to person on national security, where the Democratic presidential candidate's résumé is weak compared with rival Sen. McCain's....
Descended from Scottish-Irish settlers who became pioneers in the Virginia mountains, Sen. Webb was born in Missouri into a military family that moved some 20 times during his childhood. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1968 and went into the Marine Corps, where he served as a rifle platoon and company commander in Vietnam. He earned several medals for valor including the Navy Cross, one of the military's highest honors, in part for using his own body to shield a fellow soldier from an exploding grenade.
After returning to the U.S. due to combat injuries, he became a staffer for then-Navy Secretary John Warner (who's now the senior senator from Virginia).
He graduated from law school, and then cycled through a series of congressional and Defense Department jobs dealing with veterans' issues, culminating in his 1987 appointment as Secretary of the Navy, though he quit in anger in 1988 over funding cutbacks.