"Muscular liberalism"

Newsweek article on Sen. James Webb's response to Bush's State of the Union.

Last night, one of them looked like a panhandler asking for handouts, while the other looked like a statesman.

Says Jonathan Alter:

Virginia Sen. James Webb, in office only three weeks, managed to convey a muscular liberalism—with personal touches—that left President Bush's ordinary address in the dust.

I get the feeling I'm not going to agree much with Sen. Webb on a whole lot of the domestic agenda (though he is right about the widening gap between executives on the top floor and the rest of us grunts), but I said before that the issue of Iraq is non-negotiable. On the war, it shouldn't be difficult for the left to rally behind Webb and the new direction that is sorely needed in Iraq.