Our New Rock Stars

Just caught Senator-elects Webb and Tester on Meet The Press. No gotcha, no inside-the-beltway conventional wisdom, just a fairly substantive look at the issues with two people who actually don't belong on the Sunday shows, which is why it was so refreshing to have them there.

I thought Tester was obviously leaning on Webb when talking about Iraq, but he was very good on transparency in government and the need for common sense solutions to complex problems. He's wary of government bureaucracy, evidenced by his answer showing little support for an Office of Public Integrity. He did the interview from his kitchen in Big Sandy, and it was significant to his view that the country isn't doing a whole lot to give the middle class and the working poor a chance to get ahead.

And Webb was even better on this. The great thing about him is that, as a novelist, he writes with a passion and intensity often missing from the writing of other Democrats. The excerpt from his Wall Street Journal piece on income inequality was as stirring a call to the plight of the working man that I've probably ever heard on Meet The Press. He can speak with authority and credibility on these issues, as someone who has studied the issues from an intellectual standpoint (he cited Daniel Patrick Moynihan as a model in this respect) and who has reached conclusions that reflect deep-seeded beliefs.

It's great to see somebody fighting for working-class Americans again, and these two will help carry that fight in the Senate. Sure, the White House can say that they've supported the minimum wage too, but it strains credulity. Webb and Tester ooze credibility, and it showed today. I haven't felt better about the potential of the country in a long time.