Hits and Misses
Washington & Jefferson College made history 100 years ago this weekend when its football team went to the Rose Bowl. It capped off a season that saw the Presidents go undefeated. The team went into the game against the University of California Golden Bears as decided underdogs, but held their rivals to a tie. That game was also notable for the presence of Charles West as W&J’s quarterback. West was the first Black quarterback in a Rose Bowl, and became head football coach at Howard University in Washington, D.C., in 1928 and 1934-35. In addition, he received a medical degree from Howard University and had a successful career as a physician. A state historical marker dedicated to West’s achievements was unveiled on the W&J campus in September. The Presidents’ Rose Bowl appearance is a moment in Washington’s rich history worthy of recognition.
As the potential exists for as many as 1 million Americans per day to become infected with the omicron variant of COVID-19, the many critics of Donald Trump mostly agree that he performed a public service by admitting that he had received a booster shot of the vaccine, and expressing support for vaccination. That has not stopped some figures on the populist right from expressing vein-bulging outrage at the former president. Conspiracy peddler and far-right radio host Alex Jones proclaimed that Trump was “either completely ignorant or one of the most evil men who ever lived,” and author Candace Owens said that Trump was just “too old” to plunder the Internet for vaccine alternatives. If they end up in hospital emergency rooms in the weeks ahead, some of Trump’s followers might well regret that, on this occasion at least, they didn’t take his advice.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu became a familiar figure in the 1980s as a leading spokesman against South Africa’s apartheid regime. Tutu was also a familiar presence in the decade that followed for his efforts to foster reconciliation rather than retribution after apartheid crumbled. He had largely faded from the headlines by the time he died on Sunday at age 90, but the onetime Nobel Peace Prize winner left behind a legacy younger generations should familiarize themselves with and emulate. He once said, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” Tutu also said, “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky offered up a tweet this week that was, to be diplomatic, a trifle odd. Linking to an article from the website The American Conservative, he asserted that Democrats “steal” elections by engaging in the following: “Seeding an area heavy with potential Democratic votes with as many absentee ballots as possible, targeting and convincing potential voters to complete them in a legally valid way, and harvesting and counting the results.” Honestly, it’s hard to fathom what is so dark and nefarious about this. Both parties target areas rich in potential voters and try to nudge them into casting ballots. John Harwood, the CNN White House correspondent, pointed out that “convincing potential voters to cast legal ballots is how you win elections in a democracy.” Paul, and some of his fellow Republicans, might need a refresher lesson on this point.