Campaigning in Iowa, Webb tries to sidestep questions about 2016

CEDAR RAPIDS - For nearly 40 minutes, former U.S. Sen. James Webb held forth on topics ranging from Asia to Israel to Syria, from climate change to veterans care, and, of course, the 2016 presidential race.

The Virginia Democrat was much less forthcoming about any presidential ambitions he might harbor than he was about economic justice and rebalancing the relationship between Congress and the presidency.

'Well, I'm here helping a couple of candidates and I'm really interested in hearing your views on things,” Webb told about 40 Linn County Democrats at a Wednesday evening fundraiser for the Phoenix Club, a political action committee that supports county and Statehouse candidates.

He talked about his 'different journey” in and out of public service as a combat Marine in Vietnam, counsel to the House Veterans Affairs Committee, assistant secretary of defense and Secretary of the Navy, an Emmy-award winning journalist and filmmaker.

After writing the most recent of his 10 books, Webb, 68, took a year off, staying out of public life. Since his book, 'I Heard My Country Calling,” came out in May he has been trying to help Democratic candidates 'and, hopefully, rejoining the debate that I think we really, really need to have here in this country.”

That includes campaigning with 2nd District Rep. Dave Loebsack and U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Bruce Braley, speaking to the Iowa Federation of Labor and appearing on Iowa Public Television's Iowa Press.

'I think there is a role right now in just getting these issues out on the table in a way that I believe they should be,” he said by way of explaining his busy schedule in the first-in-the-nation caucus state.

That debate should include:

' Economic fairness: The country, he said, is in danger of seeing 'a strata of people at the very top moving away from the rest of the country … while the America in the middle, the people who are carrying the workload … and the small business people are paying too high a price compared to the people at the very top.”

' Climate change: The nation is doing a good job of addressing all of the problems that go into the issue including air and water quality. He's concerned with the lack of global effort. The 20 most polluted cities are in China and India 'so unless we can encourage them to adopt the same standards we have here, we're not going to solve it.”

' Use of military force: The U.S. must clearly state its national security objectives so the American public, its allies and potential enemies understand them. In the case of 'elective” wars, he said, Congress, not the president should make the decision whether to commit troops.

' Israel: He called Israel a 'vital ally” and said it is legitimate for Israel not to formally address Hamas.

However, he was in Iowa, so Webb was asked whether there's a presidential campaign in his future.

'We're taking things a day at a time,” he said, adding with a smile, 'We'll just see.”