The Old Dominion

This article on Jim Webb is extraordinary.

Webb is wrong to project onto the English the WASP elite's mistreatment of the Scots-Irish in America. But he takes to an unhelpful extreme what is nevertheless the real old Scots-Irish ambivalence (no doubt underlying Ian Paisley's cosying up to the SNP) that saw them with the English (and thus with the Anglo-Irish) during the Plantation, against them during the Civil War, with them during the Glorious Revolution (as I do not hesitate to call it, given the Papal Blessing sent to William of Orange when he set out for Ireland), against them during the American Revolution, and half in and half out of the 1798 Rebellion (the Jacobin, and thus anti-Catholic, foundation of Irish Republicanism).

And why is legitimate Scots-Irish grievance in the South and West intolerable when the grievance of blacks, Hispanics, Jews (with very little to complain about in America), and even unhyphonated Irish (America's richest ethnic group) are the fertile soil of Democratic politics? Is it being white, being rural, or being provincial that makes people not count, no matter how poor they are? Good for Obama, looking increasingly likely to take this on by making Webb his running mate.

Webb's elevation will give Virginia the chance to elect to the Senate a Democrat (most obviously, though not necessarily) who will give a pro-life, pro-family, pro-worker and anti-war voice to economically populist, morally and socillay conservative American patriots.

A Democrat (most obviously, though not necessarily) who is totally committed to family values, to the protection of workers and consumers, to strictly limited and strictly legal immigration, to fair trade and fair tax, to constitutional checks and balances, to universal health care, to national security, to Social Security, to energy independence, to environmental responsibility, to Second Amendment rights and responsibilities, to Civil Rights, to America as an English-speaking country, and to foreign policy realism.

A Democrat (most obviously, though not necessarily) who can unite progressive Democrats and social conservatives, conservative Democrats and paleoconservatives, organised labour and national security voters, the Religious Left and the Religious Right. Are not the vast common interests already there?

And a Democrat (most obviously, though not necessarily) who can bring together those who supported Obama and Huckabee, Kucinich and Paul. Again, are not the vast common interests already there?

So, where is that candidate?