The gotcha sword
Virginia governor and Democratic Party in a fine mess
The Democratic Party, in Virginia and nationally, wants Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam to resign over his having appeared in blackface in medical school.
The real sin is what he said in a live radio broadcast when discussing a Virginia abortion bill. He said that if a baby survives an abortion it should be kept “resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired” and then the doctor and mother would have a “discussion.”
When asked later if he wanted to revise and extend his remarks, he declined.
If a politician is that artless, and heartless, it’s not a great surprise that he at first confirmed and then denied that it was he who was in blackface next to a guy in a KKK outfit in his medical school yearbook. (What kind of medical school was this? Docs are supposed to be healers, not racist clowns. And this was 1984, not 1934.)
Mr. Northam has confessed to dressing up like Michael Jackson. Good grief.
This latest soap operetta in the culture wars is almost too stupid for intelligent commentary. For one thing, the abortion remarks have been totally eclipsed by the blackface brouhaha.
And be assured that facts and context may change, and change again, before Mr. Northam goes the way of all things. (That’s on hold, in part, because the man who would succeed him is accused of sexual assault. It’s as if Evelyn Waugh returned from the dead and decided to write a political parody.)
But does dressing up in blackface years ago prove Mr. Northam is a racist now? It might only prove that he was stupid or tasteless or had a thing for Michael Jackson — then.
Granted, Mr. Northam might not be a whole lot smarter now. But it does not follow that he should resign his office or that an election should be nullified.
If he does resign, it will be because his party has adopted a zero tolerance policy toward all youthful indiscretions, all political incorrectness past and future, and all foolishness (ask Al Franken) and because it needs the name-calling cudgel (”racist!” “sexist!”) for 2020.
That’s funny because the party looked away from the racist past of many of its most prominent members from the 1930s to the 1990s. Robert Byrd was a member of the KKK in his youth. It certainly looked away from sexism and misogyny in several of its brightest stars.
There is a practical problem with the new standard: This kind of puritanism has no end. Every large offense leads to a small one and and every small one to a smaller or imagined one. And all will be deemed disqualifying. Elizabeth Warren is in trouble for trying to prove she is part Indian. Bernie Sanders for #MeToo violators in his 2016 campaign. What did Corey Booker or Sherrod Brown do as bachelors? They can’t have behaved as badly as Ted Kennedy and Chris Dodd did when out on the town in Washington. But someone will come up with with something.
There will be many more “scandals,” and imperfect specimens sacrificed. The Democrats will be eating their young. For few in politics are pure and no one in America is pure enough to stand the “find me something on this guy” test.
Most Americans would say any old dope, in politics, sports or the movies, deserves a chance at redemption — if there is contrition.
But there is neither contrition nor redemption in the “gotcha” culture or the current Democratic Party.
Ironically, Mr. Northam, when running for governor last year, repeatedly accused his opponent of racism, latent and blatant. This is a heck of a sword to live, or die, by.