By Hank Beckman -
There was a saying that became popular in the early days of the Vietnam War. Politicians who were repeatedly wrong-or caught lying about a body count or the prospects for winning the conflict-were said to be suffering from a “credibility gap.”
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary even gave the phrase its own entry:
Credibility gap, n (1966) 1 a : a lack of trust <a credibility gap between generations> b : lack of believability <a credibility gap created by contradictory official statements> 2 a : DISCREPANCY <the credibility gap between the professed ideals…and their actual practices>
My edition, the tenth, is from 2000, so an excellent update to this entry would be a picture of California Governor Gavin Newsom.
At almost the same time that he was calling for restrictive COVID-19 guidelines for nearly all of the Golden State’s 40 million citizens, he had no qualms about attending a lobbyist friend’s 50th birthday party in an upscale Napa Valley French restaurant.
A picture running in the local Fox affiliate shows the Governor’s party clearly enjoying the festivities without masks or social distancing.
Compounding the blatant display of hypocrisy is the directive from Newsom’s office reminding people dining out to “remember to put your masks on between bites” when dining out.
That must have been a real thigh-slapper to the millions of citizens who, thanks to the internet, have seen the Governor’s group of revelers clearly enjoying their meal without even hiding their disdain for the rules Newsom wants for everyone else.
And hoping to rid himself that last pesky little shred of integrity, Newsom announced that entertainment industry workers will be exempt from his latest stay-at-home order. Apparently Hollywood is either immune to the virus, or has invented its own vaccine.
To be fair, Newsom is hardly the only public leader to take the do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do approach to combating the virus that we’ve been assured is the greatest threat to humanity since the bubonic plague.
The official list of public hypocrites is significant and growing; Illinois has its share.
Governor J.B. Pritzker seems set on inspiring the phrase “Beloved Husband, Adoring Father—Hypocrite” for his tombstone.
In the early days of the COVID-19 battle, he refused to answer question on his wife’s whereabouts when she apparently was in violation of his stay-at-home order by hiding out at the family residence in Florida.
Pritzker was highly offended that anyone would bring up the matter, saying that a news story broaching the topic was “reprehensible.”
Then there was his decision to join those protesting “systemic racism,” whatever that means, in violation of the 10-person limit in his reopening plan.
The Governor wrapped himself in the mantle of a civil rights activist, saying he wasn’t going “to run away” from a chance to take part in history, choosing instead to run away from his credibility.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot ignored the advice she has been regularly giving to constituents when she decided to get her hair done without wearing a mask or practicing the social distancing she urges on others.
Her excuse was essentially that being in the public eye, she is a very important person, not required to follow the same rules as the rest of us proles.
But at least she didn’t blame her hairdresser for setting her up, the way Nancy Pelosi did when she was caught walking through a beauty shop sans mask.
Thirty minutes after Denver Mayor Michael Hancock asked residents to stay at home with only immediate family, he took off on an flight to Florida; Naperville Mayor Steve Chirico talked of a mask mandate for the city before jetting off to attend his daughter’s crowded, unmasked wedding in Florida; Democrats everywhere celebrated the presumed election of Joe Biden without regard to any social distancing; most Democrats stood by silently while thugs protested, rioted, and looted in the name of social justice.
While it’s a sorry state of affairs that we have come to expect, and even accept, that so many of our elected officials have such a casual relationship with honesty, that is indeed the reality of our political culture.
One party claims to be for the working man while spending the last 30 years shipping his jobs off to China and the other insists it’s unfair to punish Hispanic “dreamers” for the actions of their parents while promoting affirmative action to punish white kids for the sins of their ancestors.
But the hypocrisy, although galling, is not as serious as the hit to government’s credibility.
The more serious problem comes now in the implementation of future policy to cope with a virus that has claimed more than 200,000 lives to date.
Why should any one believe the necessity of restrictions of any kind when our elected leaders, the people that we trust to formulate policy responses to threats like COVID-19, are so cavalier in the conduct of their own lives?
There are really only two ways to explain their actions.
Either these people took risks that some of them insist are reckless and foolhardy to the point of being criminally negligent because they are incredibly stupid, or they are exaggerating or lying about the risks involved to most of us going about routine activities like eating in restaurants and congregating in public.
As much as we like to joke about the relative ignorance of the political class, common sense tells us that the more likely explanation is that those advocating for strict restrictions are being less than honest.
About their reasons for dissembling, we can only speculate.
But considering the lack of data suggesting that in-person education promotes the spread of the virus, to cite one example, and conflicting reports about the efficacy of masks and lockdowns, to cite another, many Americans have become reluctant to believe what passes for wisdom on any information that comes from a politician.
The fact that some of those people at Governor Newsom’s dinner party were California Medical Association executives only reinforces our skepticism.
Growing numbers of Americans are set to resist further lockdowns; New York law enforcement officials are defying Governor Andrew Cuomo’s strict lockdown order by refusing to enforce it; the Supreme Court rebuked Cuomo by striking down his strict limits on religious gatherings.
Yet Vermont Governor Phil Scott wants schools to interrogate students about the travel plans of their families; Maryland Governor Larry Hogan compared people not wearing a mask to drunken drivers; rumors abound of a national lockdown in a coming Biden administration.
Good luck selling anyone on any of that nonsense.
