2 of 10

1

RCP: We're three weeks into President Obama's administration after a historical election. In a 2004 Wall Street Journal piece you wrote: "The greatest realignment in modern politics would take place rather quickly if the right national leader found a way to bring the Scots-Irish and African Americans to the same table, and so to redefine a formula that has consciously set them apart for the past two centuries."

Is that what happened in 2008?

Webb: I don't think that's quite what happened. No... [laughs]

But I think it has the potential to happen. People need to get a comfort level with what this administration is doing. There's certainly a commonality of interests in those two groups -- or more loosely defined, African Americans who still haven't made their way into the mainstream and a lot of rural, working class whites who are out of the mainstream. And I think they do have a commonality of interests. When we look at issues, particularly economic fairness and social justice issues, there's a definite intersection where there is opportunities for working people or looking at the prison system or who carries the load in our wars.