Senator-elect James Webb refused to make small talk with President Bush, which is an amusing anecdote. However, it’s not what I enjoyed most in the article. Instead, I offer this:
“He’s not a typical politician. He really has deep convictions,” said [Sen. Chuck] Schumer, who headed the Senate Democrats’ campaign arm. “We saw this in the campaign. We would have disagreements. But when you made a persuasive argument, he would say, ‘You’re right.’ I am truly not worried about it. He understands the need to be part of a team.”
The irony is almost too much to handle.
Back to Senator-elect Webb, I love this anecdote because Washington needs unpolished hacks as much as it has polished hacks. I suspect Webb won’t be overly effective if we get six years of gruff, but that’s for the best if he can change the discussion on Iraq and can’t get his intellectual slop economic policies passed. It’s like Christmas in November.