E.J. Dionne Jr.: Jim Webb, The Last Jacksonian Democrat
[E.J. Dionne Jr. is a columnist for the WaPo.]
Much of the focus on Sen. Jim Webb's retirement will be on how this might make the Democrats' already hard job of holding their Senate majority even more difficult. But more important than a single Virginia Senate seat is that Webb was one of a kind.
He was not only a Reagan Democrat who became a Republican and then came back. He was also a self-described Jacksonian Democrat. Democrats often speak at Jefferson-Jackson day dinners and mention Old Hickory, but it's hard to think of any of them being as steeped as Webb was in what it meant to be a follower of Andrew Jackson....
Asked what Jacksonian democracy meant, he replied:
I think Andrew Jackson said it first, and said it best, when he indicated that you measure the health of a society not at its apex but at its base. You measure the true health of a society not by what the stock market is doing but what the average-wage earner is facing....
Read entire article at WaPo
Much of the focus on Sen. Jim Webb's retirement will be on how this might make the Democrats' already hard job of holding their Senate majority even more difficult. But more important than a single Virginia Senate seat is that Webb was one of a kind.
He was not only a Reagan Democrat who became a Republican and then came back. He was also a self-described Jacksonian Democrat. Democrats often speak at Jefferson-Jackson day dinners and mention Old Hickory, but it's hard to think of any of them being as steeped as Webb was in what it meant to be a follower of Andrew Jackson....
Asked what Jacksonian democracy meant, he replied:
I think Andrew Jackson said it first, and said it best, when he indicated that you measure the health of a society not at its apex but at its base. You measure the true health of a society not by what the stock market is doing but what the average-wage earner is facing....