Democratic presidential candidate Jim Webb said Wednesday that he is “very skeptical” of the deal Western nations recently struck with Iran over its nuclear program, and said he worries the Democratic Party has become “less inclusive” and too focused on social issues.
In an interview with public radio host Diane Rehm, Webb says he thought Iran gets “a lot out of this” deal while he was still “trying to figure out” the American interest in the agreement to halt Iran’s nuclear program struck Tuesday. “I have a lot of concern about this deal,” he added, explaining that he thought the deal would result in Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon and that Congress should have had more oversight.
Related: Jim Webb: Democratic Party has ‘moved way far to the left’
That puts Webb at odds not only with President Obama, but with all four other Democratic presidential candidates, who have said they support the deal.
That’s a comfortable position for the former senator and Navy Secretary, who touted himself as an “independent voice” Wednesday and is used to charting his own course. Later in the interview, he criticized his party for prioritizing “social issues.”
“I worry that the Democratic Party’s message has has become less inclusive even that is as it has become more focused on different interest groups,” he said. “If you look at the [20]10 elections and [20]14 election, you will see the Democratic Party, I believe, needs to open up and be more inclusive to the people who traditionally part of the basic message of the Democratic Party.”
On Sunday, Webb told Fox News that he thought his party had moved too far to the left. “That’s not my Democratic Party in and of itself,” he told Fox News Sunday.
Alex Seitz-Wald