Chicago Republicans

What do sports and politics have in common? Well, outbursts and spontaneous eruptions seem to be the latest. As a fan of both tennis and politics, I thought at first it was a stretch to compare the U.S Open in New York with what happens in Congress. Then Maureen Dowd and Jimmy Carter opened their mouths and have launched a despicable attack by accusing Joe Wilson of being racist, based not on fact but on what they imagined he meant to say. If that isn't disgusting I am not sure what is. But back to tennis. We saw an emotional tirade from Serena Williams that was foul mouthed and ugly, but not a complete surprise given the phenom's earlier behavior and history of outbursts. It cost her the match both emotionally and technically. But then we saw a most uncharacteristic reaction by all time great Roger Federer which was nowhere as ugly as Serena's but so unusual for the cool champion that it stood out. Normally stone faced, he argued with the umpire about a late, but accurate challenge of a critical point. Serena was appropriately fined and penalized and has since apologized. Roger continued to play and lost with the generous grace that true champions seems to possess. Both outbursts demonstrated just how stressful and demanding the sport can be, where millimeters can make the difference and one lucky break can change a whole match. I didn't realize it, but politics seems to be a game of inches as well. By all accounts, Joe Wilson acted emotionally and in the heat of the moment when he spontaneously yelled out "you lie" during President Obama's speech. He was reacting to a statement regarding the exclusion of illegal immigrants that he had spent the afternoon debating in committee, which itself had failed to settle the issue. No doubt his reaction was based in part on the frustration he had just experienced on that very point, just as tennis players sometimes explode after a series of frustrating points. He recognized the inappropriateness of his shout out and immediately apologized to the President who accepted graciously. And the House rebuked him for it anyway and technically they had that right. But now Dowd and Carter have gone one ugly step further and have attempted to justify the resolution, which went right down party lines, by playing the race card. They want to paint him as a Serena rather than a Roger. They want this to look uglier, meaner and more suspect than it really is. Anyone watching the tapes can see that Wilson had a Roger moment, not a Serena one.

For anyone interested in exploring further the tennis/politics analogy, I would posit that some outbursts are not always spontaneous but sometimes calculated to pump one's self up or psyche out an opponent. There are some who claimed that John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors employed some of these methods. And what about the repeated attacks and name calling of President George Bush by our congressional leaders Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi? They certainly don't appear random and they have never been forced to apologize.