Allen - Webb Debate Analysis
"Meet the Press" - Sunday September 17, 2006

    NBC's "Meet the Press" hosted by Tim Russert is hosting a series of debates in hotly contested campaigns around the nation. This Sunday was no exception when U.S. Senator George Allen squared off with former Secretary of the Navy Jim Webb.  Webb, a former Republican, now Democrat, has presented a formittable challenge to the incumbent senator since his primary victory over Harris Miller.  Though his campaign lags Allen's in terms of fundraising, he has successful pulled himself up in the polls, to where he is within the statistical error of the September 10 poll by Mason-Dixon.  
    The "Meet the Press" debate was not like many more rigidly structured political debates, characteristic of the televised national presidential debates with formal times allocated for statements, responses and rebuttals with a series of discreet questions.  Russert managed the free-wheeling exchange between the two candidates for the hour long program.  The debate ran continuously in two 30 minute segments as the network only paused one time for commercial intermission.  The simmering political differences between the two candidates seem almost to be getting personal as each scarcely referred to the other by name.  Allen's repeated use of "my opponent" even got an interjection by Webb in the opening minutes of the debate.  The debate was really broken up into five questions which alternated to the two candidates, with close follow up questioning by Russert and pop-up text windows from statements each made in print or to the media on issues that Russert was exploring.  He even included a video clip of the now infamous Allen campaign speech where the senator referred to a Webb campaign worker as "Macaca."

On the issues:
    The debate centered around national security, military planning and policy with some short incursions exploring some issues that have been vexing in the personal political histories of each candidate.  Webb went on the attack right at the outset of the debate.  Noting that "We're now getting the--American people are now beginning to understand how bad that decision was. We need to do something about it, and we're seeing the budget busted," Webb waylaid into the Administration war planning and domestic policy, which he noted Allen has supported at virtually every turn. As Allen defended his "stay the course" response to the war, he spoke only in general terms about the levels of troop commitment and need to support the Administration's interrogation plans to protect America and our servicemen and women around the world.  Drawing upon his experience in combat and that of Senator John McCain as a Vietnam POW, Web noted the importance of the Geneva Conventions to protect American's in wartime.  While Allen defended interrogations and asserted, "I don't believe that the world is doubting our commitment and our resolve to fight these maniacal terrorists," Webb fired back, "And what you're seeing here is, is a split between the theorists, who have controlled so much of the policy in this administration, theorists who have never been on a battlefield, who have never put a uniform on, and who are looking at this thing in a totally different way from people who have had to, to worry about their troops and themselves possibly coming under enemy hands."  This last statement was an amplification of a strategy used repeatedly by Webb during the debate emphasizing the military, combat service of himself, Colin Powell, Anthony Zinni and even Virginia's senior senator John Warner, but not President Bush or Vice President Cheney.  
    On the subject of national security, efforts to protect the homeland in and outside the United States were raised.  When asked by Russert if the $300 billion in spending on Iraq could have been better spent, Allen noted that "We have spent money on all those things. In homeland security, we just passed a port security bill this past week."  In his follow up, Allen argued, "The point is, is we made a decision. You got to stand by your decision and you can't be constantly second-guessing, Monday-morning quarterbacking. My opponent is--the whole theme of his campaign is we should not have gone in."  After Allen concluded that "there isn't, there isn't that much of a difference insofar as the future," Webb shot back "That's absolutely not true, you know...We could have, we could have contained Iraq. If you want to take out Saddam Hussein, there are ways to take out Saddam Hussein...And eventually that is going to fall to the other countries in the region. It's just going to."  While Allen seemed to show a lack of strategic or detailed knowledge of the larger political machinations of the region, Webb pointed out that the war in Iraq is "a mouse trap with--that was going to burn out our conventional forces, and second of all, a mouse trap in the sense that we have gotten so engaged in fighting the Sunni insurgency that we have allowed the Shia to get more power inside Iraq."  
    The final set of issues brought out in the debate was the personal issues each candidate has come under critical scrutiny for; namely race for Allen and gender for Webb.  Each candidates comments from newspaper accounts and public comments were highlighted.  Webb was presented with comments he made about the combat readiness of women and impact on leadership and morale as well as a clip from a press conference by a female Naval Academy graduate, who's now a Commander in the Navy.  In response, Webb confessed a degree of immaturity in his comments and narrowness of his perspective; "this article was written from the perspective of a Marine rifle platoon and company commander, and to that extent, I think it was way too narrowly based. I wrote that article... it's been 27 years, it's a magazine article, and it's something, if, if I may say, I am fully comfortable with the roles of women in the military today."  Drawing upon his public service record Webb followed up his contrition noting, "This issue was vetted twice in, in Senate confirmation hearings, 1984, 1987, and both times I, I expressed my views on women in, in military billets. And when I was secretary of the Navy, on my own initiative, I put together a task force where we ended up opening up more, more billets, operational billets, to women than any other secretary of the Navy in history."  Allen faced a similarly tough grilling on his statements and actions with regard to race, including his most recent comments directed toward a Webb campaign worker of Indian descent.  Noting that Allen had in his office at one time a Confederate flag, noose and pictures of Confederate soldiers, the Virginia Senator followed a pattern of contrition much like that of his opponent.  Allen observed, "I wish I had had these experiences earlier in life, because I would have made decisions differently.  The Confederate flag--as, as a kid, I was rebellious, anti-establishment, I still am. And I looked at the flag as a symbol for that. Now as--and I look at the flag, also, and some others do, as heritage and as regional pride. But I've also seen, over the years, talking and listening and learning and growing, that that flag, to African-Americans, represents repression, segregation and violence against them. And I would never want to have anything to insult or offend someone, and so that's why I would not be utilizing that flag..."  Allen also drew on support from an African American member of the Virginia legislature and reasserted his claim that his use of "Macaca" was accidental as he made up the word and was unaware of any racial connotation.  

On the style:
    As both men are seasoned politicos, there were no obvious gaffes or missteps by either candidate.  Even under the close - and often seemingly intensely personal - examination by Russert to Webb on his comments about women in the military and for Allen on race relations and his loyalty to President Bush, neither man withered or showed signs of exasperation.  Both men focused on their key themes; for Allen it was protecting American's safety at home and abroad by continuing the war on terror and for Webb it was the strategic and tactical missteps of the Administration and Allen's failed leadership.  
    The opening question set the tone for the very serious and somewhat personal nature of the debate as Russert showed a story from the Virginia Pilot showing Webb's endorsement of Allen in 2000 during his first run for the senate.  Noting that he had to challenge Allen in 2006 for a failure of leadership and the G.O.P.'s role in leading the nation to war in Iraq, which he described as an "incredible strategic blunder of historic proportion."  Turning to Allen, Russet asked about a conversation between the two candidates over the Iraq and Allen's remark that he could not voice against President Bush because it would be "disloyal."  Saying he was "loyal to this country," Allen noted he would "stand by my vote."  
    While the debate did not get deeply into specifics of policy, it did reveal some differences between the candidates.  Russert effectively fleshed out some important issues about the men's personal politics on race and gender, their visions - broadly speaking for the nation - and the direction of the nation's diplomatic and military engagement in the Middle East.  While Allen did not go out of his way to demonstrate his personal support of the President, he staunchly defended Administration policy.  Webb provided some outline of his strategy for opening a regional diplomatic front to deal with Iraq's transition and a targeted tax cut for veterans.  While Allen reminded viewers of his service as Governor of Virginia and as a United States Senator, Webb focused on his military service both as a Marine and civilian and his connection to the military community - namely Anthony Zinni and Colin Powell - who are now critical of the Administration's war planning.  As the issues discussion wrapped up, Russert asked the two men about their shared habit of using smokeless tobacco.  Both readily admitted it is not a habit for children and nor a particular good example for them.  The somewhat off topic question helped settle the climate in what is a difficult campaign and that is both ideological and personal for the two men.    

On balance   
    In the end, Webb made a compelling case for his leadership, experience and for divided government.  Allen, on the other hand, was left largely defending his record without an ability to show direction, decisiveness or genuine leadership.  Though he asserted he hoped to be "a bridge between these two proposals" (referring to Senator Warner of Virginia and President Bush's plans for interrogation), Allen was omitted any detail as to how he might carve out that compromise or even spearhead its negotiation.  Webb was able to demonstrate on a number of occasions where he differed in tone and substance from his opponent, while Allen repeated statements about taking decisive action against terrorists, the inability to make hindsight judgments on Administration policy, and the importance of giving an appearance of unity to the world.   Webb effectively leveraged his credibility as a former military officer and civilian leader, presenting a strong position with regard to national security issues and clarifying his position on Affirmative Action and women in combat.  His repeated references to tactical and battlefield experience stood out in contrast to Allen's silence on combat experience.  Even on the issue of the construction of military bases inside Iraq, Webb evoked his military experience to rebut Allen's assertions that the United States has no long term interest in remaining in the nation.  The exchange on the issue represents the very different positions of the men.  Following Allen noting that "The bases are to protect our forces. They're hardened, they're buffered so they can't be hit by, by terrorist attacks," Webb retorted, "I think George has a fundamental misunderstanding of how the military is, is used... if he believes that you can--if that--you're still going to be able to assist in these city areas like Ramadi from remote bases somewhere.  That's just not true. That's just not true."  
     As Allen noted, when pressed by Russert at the program's end, the Senate moves "too slow," though the Senator stopped short of pledging to serve out a second full six year term, instead noting he would "fight hard for shared values."  While premature to publicly announce a presidential run, Allen certainly left the door open for 2008.  Eyes around Virginia, the nation, and perhaps the world, will watch on November 7 to see which candidate prevails in this tight race.