He’s served as a Marine in Vietnam, a citizen as Secretary of the Navy, and as a Virginian in the U.S. Senate. Now Jim Webb wants to serve his country again — as a presidential candidate.
He will challenge Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Martin O’Malley, and Lincoln Chaffee in the Democratic primaries.
Webb admits it won’t be easy.
“I understand the odds, particularly in today’s political climate where fair debate is so often drowned out by huge sums of money. I know that more than one candidate in this process intends to raise at least a billion dollars – some estimates run as high as two billion dollars – in direct and indirect financial support,” he writes in a letter to supporters.
Webb vows to focus on restoring the military. He criticizes both of the last two administrations, saying he wouldn’t have intervened in Iraq (Bush) or Libya (Obama). “And today I would not be the President to sign an executive order establishing a long-tem relationship with Iran if it accepts Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons,” Webb adds. The Iran agreement could be signed later this month.
Webb also prescribes an aggressive domestic policy. “Let’s give our younger people a cause worth fighting for. Let’s clean out the manure-filled stables of a political system that has become characterized by greed,” he writes. “Let’s rebuild an educational system that gives everyone a fair chance. A democracy is only as strong as the promise it offers its young citizens through the public education system.”
He concludes his announcement with two promises:
The first is that every endeavor will be based on the premise that has been the foundation of our society from the day the United States Constitution was signed: that we are a nation of laws, not of specially privileged people, and that our greatest strength comes from the power of our multicultural heritage.
And the second is that I mean what I say, that if I make a promise I will keep it, and that outside my faith and my family, my greatest love will always be for this amazing country that for more than 200 years has given so many people the opportunity to have a good life, raise a family, live in freedom, and achieve their dreams.