Jim Webb takes a crack at proving that he can be an effective high-profile surrogate for Obama in an interview with The Huffington Post.

The key takeway from the interview is that Webb is clearly trying to showcase two ways he can act as an effective messenger for Obama. First, his military cred enables him to effectively take on McCain with Obama's foreign policy message about negotiating with hostile foreign powers...

"Under the right circumstances, you have to [talk to your enemies]," he said. "My model for Iran is China in 1971. China was a nuclear power, it was a rogue state, it had American war on its border with Vietnam, it was spouting the same kind of hostile rhetoric. We took none of our military options off the table, we abandoned none of our alliances, but we reached out in a aggressive way diplomatically to bring China into the world community."

Second, Webb tries to demonstrate that he would be able to effectively make Obama's case to Appalacia and rural Americans, arguing that affirmative action, rather than entrenched racism, is the problem. "If you can get the rural whites in this country at the same table as African Americans, it would be good for American politics. I think Barack Obama has the potential to do this," Webb concludes.

The rest here.