By: CHRIS STIREWALT
Political Editor
Washington Examiner
November 30, 2009
…Webb waited until after the last Democratic primary in June 2008 to endorse Obama over Hillary Clinton, but he did campaign with him a few times in Virginia. His biggest help to Obama, though, was in rebutting criticism from his fellow Vietnam hero John McCain.
Since Obama has taken office, Webb’s support has grown weaker. It’s been particularly noticeable since Virginia voters swung sharply away from the Democratic Party on Nov. 3.
Webb recently sent Obama a letter warning the president against making any promises to his fellow world leaders when he hits the U.N.’s global warming summit in Copenhagen next week.
“As you well know from your time in the Senate, only specific legislation agreed upon in the Congress, or a treaty ratified by the Senate, could actually create such a commitment on behalf of our country,” Webb wrote.
Webb and fellow hillbilly Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., want to skip Obama’s “cap and trade” plan in favor of building 100 new nuclear power plants in the next decade.
On health care, Webb was slow to agree to allow debate to begin on his party’s bill in the Senate and continues to say he will oppose any bill that is not “reasonable in scope, cost and impact” or that expands coverage to the detriment of the middle class — signs he might block Obama’s costly plan.
Webb rebuked Obama for deciding to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other terrorists in civilian courts as opposed to military tribunals.
“They do not belong in our country, they do not belong in our courts and they do not belong in our prisons,” Webb told Chris Wallace of Fox News.
But the big test on party loyalty for Webb will be on Tuesday when the president rolls out his modified strategy on the Afghan war: tens of thousands of additional troops to serve an ambitious nation-building strategy with new benchmarks for the woeful government in Kabul…
The article continues at the Examiner.
