Marsh against Webb; Yawn

Senator Henry Marsh is a man with a long distinguished career in politics. In the upcoming Virginia Democratic senatorial primary he opposes James Webb. Marsh favors Harris Miller. I’m not at all surprised.

In my book it hardly matters.

Let me be the first to say that Virginians owe former Richmond mayor Henry Marsh much in the way of gratitude. While he is a courageous man, he is also a man whose ideas were formed during the Civil Rights struggles of the 1950s and 60s. Unfortunately, Marsh's style proves that old liberals can sometimes be just as inflexible as old conservatives. At times he acts as if nothing has changed and that he’s still fighting the battles of 40 years ago.

For example: Marsh strongly opposed the movement in Richmond to change the City Charter to allow for the direct citywide election of the mayor. He managed to find all sorts of hidden racist demons in that proposed change, in spite of the fact that many local black leaders were on the bandwagon for reform. Marsh insisted it would water down the black vote and transfer power back to the rich white people who used to run Richmond.

Determined to maintain the status quo, Marsh played the race card.

By the way, SLANT first called for this same change back in 1992. After that initial piece I wrote several more OpEds for various publishers which endorsed the at-large mayor concept as a way to improve the City of Richmond‘s government. Each time I can remember being told by plenty of “experts” that as long as Marsh opposed the idea, it was dead-on-arrival. They were convinced Marsh controlled the black vote in Richmond.

Their notion was outdated. The self-appointed experts were wrong.

Another local black politician, Doug Wilder, was leading the push for the change. When Marsh opposed Wilder, his old friend from college days, Marsh rolled the dice and lost.

By losing that political fight so badly Marsh exposed the fact that he no longer enjoys anywhere near the sway over black voters in Central Virginia, or the Democratic Party, he once did. The Wilder/Bliley proposal passed by a whopping four-to-one margin in a citywide referendum. It carried all nine districts.

So, James Webb’s disappointed supporters should calm down. The days of a Henry Marsh endorsement, or rebuke, mattering very much are long gone. That hardly means Marsh is a lowdown party-splitter. It just means he’s somewhat out of touch with the times, again.

Furthermore, I don’t see any good in calling Harris Miller names. Miller is trying to win. He still thinks he can. That doesn't make him, or Marsh, into a traitor. Perhaps Webb’s blogging team should take a deep breath and swear off the hyperbole for a couple of days.

If Webb is going to be the golden boy who can beat George Allen, if he's the world-beater his blogging supporters have been saying he is, the man simply needs to handle this. If Marsh can knock candidate Webb off this easily, then he never stood a chance against Allen.

Webb will surely have to explain his stand on Affirmative Action. Not everyone will be pleased with it, especially those who are wallowing in nostalgia with Marsh. But please get this straight -- everyone who criticizes that 1960s program, designed to help make up for past discrimination, is not a racist.

Many good Democrats are surely ready to see a timetable for Affirmative Action, as it is, to be phased out and replaced by a newer program more targeted to specific problems.

Let’s give Webb his chance to deal with this problem. He had to know it would come up, so he shouldn’t be surprised by it. Besides, I don’t think most endorsements mean anywhere nearly as much as they used to.

Bottom line: If Webb’s supporters go bonkers every time a Virginia Democrat doesn’t do exactly what they want this spring, I can’t imagine how that will help Webb win the nomination.