Sending a letter to Iran was a "serious error" if Republicans want to address the issue of the country's nuclear powers, former Sen. Jim Webb said Sunday, and although he called the letter a "silly mistake," he believes such deals should include consulting Congress.
"I think you need to bring these things to Congress," Webb, who is actively exploring a campaign for the 2016 Democratic nomination, told ABC's
"This Week With George Stephanopoulos" program. "The strategic framework with Iraq. We did not get a full discussion or the possibility of voting on that. The Iraqi Parliament voted on it twice. The idea that the executive branch will negotiate these without the full participation of Congress is a bad idea."
Webb said there have been other incidents, "all the way back to the Bush administration on the strategic framework agreement in Iraq ... when President [Barack] Obama went to Copenhagen and announced he was going to bring back [an agreement] on climate change, a binding agreement without consulting Congress, I wrote a letter to him on that."
Story continues below video.
The Virginia Democrat, meanwhile, told Stephanopoulos that he and his staff are exploring whether it is possible to mount a presidential campaign in the present climate, "where money is flooding the political process."
Ready for Hillary, the super PAC formed to raise money for the anticipated presidential campaign by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, raised nearly $9 million in 2014, more than double what it raised the year before, and more than most of the GOP groups affiliated with 2016 presidential bids, according to a report in
The Wall Street Journal last month.
Even so, Webb thinks it's still possible to mount a campaign, and said he is hearing a "lot of support."
There are several issues to examine, said Webb, including the Iran situation, the "dysfunction occurring in the economic system," and the ongoing Constitutional challenges that are mounting nationally.
He said over the past 20-to-25 years, the economic model has broken apart, as well as the employment model based on full-time employment, and said he would call for leveling the playing field when it comes to taking care of working people.
And even though Webb has had a great deal of criticism for the Clintons in the past, including his belief that they didn't think the law applies to them, he now says "we threw a lot of bombs in that period," and said American voters want to hear about the issues that will concern them in the future.
Related stories:
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.