Three days before the 2020 South Carolina Democratic Primary, Joe Biden’s campaign needed a little energy as it looked like the party was flirting with Pete Buttigieg as a “moderate” alternative to Bernie Sanders progressivism. He hadn’t won any primaries, and he wasn’t really exciting the base. South Carolina offered the opportunity he needed, and seizing that opportunity, he told a debate audience that “I’m looking forward to making sure there’s a Black woman on the Supreme Court, to make sure we in fact get every representation.”
Putting aside the inconvenience of there being only 9 justices on the Supreme Court to apply against “…every representation…”, that statement constituted a campaign promise, and he has repeated it since. I’m not sure that he ever said his first nominee would be a black woman, but given their rarity (well, until the Trump Administration), expectations were that if he had a chance, he would do so. With the retirement of Justice Breyer, he has that chance, and he is going to follow through.
There has been a good deal of debate in the chattering class as to the implications of Biden excluding one entire sex and multitudes of ethno-racial combinations to arrive at his pledge. I am uneasy with this sort of nose counting, as is apparently, a significant majority of the American public. Biden never should have made the promise. Instead he should have committed to looking for well-qualified people from across our citizenry, and then when the time came, he could privately just restrict it to the demographic he desired.
But he didn’t do that. To win a key primary in a tough fight, he made a promise that helped bring important support to his candidacy, which ultimately propelled him on to victory in the primary and general. And while I have little time for identity politics, I have even less time for lying politicians who do not follow through on their promises.
So while it is unfortunate that Biden made the promise, it would be even more unfortunate were he not to keep it.
More COVID Musing
I have written here (and said out loud elsewhere) that I was “over” COVID, which is something one hears more and more these days. But being “over” COVID means very different things to different people. For some, it means that you refuse to wear a mask on an international flight, forcing the flight to turn around as a result of your criminal childishness. (Side note: this person should be identified and publicly shamed. Public shaming is a worthwhile civilizational tool).
I pretty much have a mask on me wherever I go, and if I am indoors and not eating, I wear it. Like today, when I got out of my car to head into the dry cleaner to grab some stuff. There used to be a “please mask” sign on the door, but there isn’t anymore. Half the employees walking around were masked, half weren’t. I put mine on, the woman who served me was wearing one. Does being “over” COVID mean I wear a mask without considering it a big deal? Maybe.
Where I have become somewhat uncompromising is in my professional life. I get asked to be on panels and give presentations a lot, and since COVID, the overwhelming majority of that business has gone virtual. For a good long time, I played along, sitting in front of this screen in my bunny-slippers and a tie, rendering opinions on all manner of things naval and strategic. But no more. A few months ago, I decided that I was not only not going to support (by watching) online forums, but that I wasn’t going to participate in them. Two examples occurred recently.
One of my favorite right of center institutions in the world is having a forum called “Conservatives and American democracy” on February 3rd, and I got an email invite to “attend”. I was excited to do so. Already having business in DC on the morning of the 3rd, I figured that I’d “suit up” and make a day of it, heading over the AEI after my morning meeting to watch a panel on things I am ridiculously interested in with panelists I hold in high regard. Maybe stick around and have dinner in the city. All in all, a great day. But then I analyzed the invitation more closely, and then went online to look at it there. It was video only. Too bad, so sad, I’m not coming. We are no longer in the stage of this thing where we have to do these kinds of events online. You want me to wear a mask? Fine. You want to keep the numbers down/physically space people? Fine. But don’t make me sit in front of my computer for four hours. Not gonna happen.
Last week I was signed up to be a part of a table-top/wargame/workshop at a DC thinktank I love, on a topic I have some expertise in, and likely including the usual suspects who I like to work with. I signed up a few weeks back when I was invited, in an email that did not mention the event being online (in fairness, it did not mention it was in-person either). Two days before the event, I get an email with the details for joining on “Teams” or some other platform. I shook my head and wrote the organizer a brief note saying that I was unaware it was being conducted online, and that I am no longer participating in online events of this nature.
I guess my point in all this is that unless there is a countervailing force that acts upon these event organizers, we’ll either be virtual until the cows come home or at least virtual for longer than we need to be. Again—I would have been happy to be masked for the four hours of the workshop, but I wasn’t gonna sit here in the mancave thinking about what to write in my next Substack.
Who’s with me?
UVA Basketball
Because I’ve dramatically cut back on most social media, I’ve not had appropriate outlets for my continuing disappointment in the UVA Men’s Basketball Team. So if you have no desire to indulge me, I’d stop reading now (but don’t forget….this IS the Conservative WAHOO substack).
UVA lost to Notre Dame at Notre Dame yesterday, which was as unremarkable as their performance. This is not a good team; it cannot shoot, it defends poorly, and although it features two point guards, it has only average ball-handling skills. Movement without the ball is almost non-existent, the lineups are unimaginative, and one of our big men is just plain soft, while the other is somewhat spastic.
Virginia is now 12-9, and at this point is a threat to not even be invited to the NIT. That is how bad things are.
Two elements of this terrible season continue to vex me.
The first is the utter inability of some UVA fans to simply accept that we are just a bad team. We win a game, maybe two, and they start thinking that we’re gonna make a run at the ACC title. We aren’t. We simply don’t have the players to do it. Ain’t gonna happen. Many of my fellow Hoos are simply lacking in objectivity.
The second thing that vexes me is that given the first thing, we should be playing virtually everyone on the bench for a few minutes each game to get them ACC game experience. Yesterday, 8 players played, including one who played for 15 minutes without a point, and the aforementioned “soft” big man who played for 11 minutes with 2 points.
Now, I realize that as sucky as this team is, if the guys riding the pine can’t get find their way into the game, they may very well be REALLY BAD. But so what? We’re not a threat right now, so why not start planning for next year?
My final statement will earn me the enmity of a lot of UVA folks. Our Fourth-year point guard Kihei Clark, should never again have to buy a meal in Charlottesville or anywhere else a UVA graduate is close-by. His pass to Mahmadi Diakite as the clock ran out in the Round of 8 was one of the most memorable moments in UVA sports history. I was there. I will never, ever, forget it.
But he simply is not good or consistent enough to be the starting point guard on an ACC caliber team (even though the ACC blows this year). The team should be turned over to Reese Beekman (the other point guard who also starts), and Kihei should get a few minutes off the bench, while the five guys sitting there all game rotate in for a few touches.
But what do I know?