Move over, John McCain: there’s a new Maverick in town

John McCain has had a lock on the maverick label since the 2000 presidential campaign. Reporters are fined heavily and demoted if they don’t use the term when writing about him. But there are signs he’s losing his maverick mojo, and senator-elect Jim Webb of Virginia may put the final bullet in the myth.

McCain is in trouble anyway. Two weeks or so ago Slate’s Jacob Weisberg, a reliable Washington weathervane, wrote a mash note to maverick-in-waiting Barack Obama, who is apparently the lone religious Democrat in America. Weisberg appeared to be on the verge of dumping McCain — upon whom he’s had the obligatory man-crush since the Straight Talk Express took to the road in 2000 — when he said “Skeptics note that we’ve been through swoons like this before—including for McCain in 2000. Obama could turn out to be just another liberal fad, like Howard Dean in 2004. Once he decides to run, the cynics assure us, his halo will tarnish or crack. And maybe so. But this time, maybe not.”

Which is to say, “Dear John …”

It’ll take a lot of pundit deprogramming to wrest the crown from McCain, but Webb has maverick credentials that shine like a beacon in a blacked-out newsroom. He just toppled an incumbent senator and wrecked George Allen’s presidential dreams in the process. He’s opposed to the Iraq adventure but strong on defense. He’s anti-gun control and pro choice. He’s a lapsed Republican, a labor supporter and an economic populist. He writes spicy novels that are on the Pentagon’s recommended reading list. He’s a war hero like McCain and within a year or so you’ll get 10,000 results when you Google “Jim Webb” and “outspoken” as opposed to maybe 100 now.

Does Webb deserve the label? Who knows: he isn’t even in office yet. Maybe he’ll turn out to be, like McCain, more of a movie maverick than a real one. But I guarantee you Chris Matthews and other pundits are already breaking out the mascara and batting their eyes in front of the mirror to practice up, and we won’t get through January without Matthews calling him a man’s man or the real deal if he hasn’t already. I hope it doesn’t go to Webb’s head; from what I’ve seen he’ll probably just find it grotesque.

Remeber: There Can Be Only One.