Toon & text by John Auchter
I saw an interview with John Beilein after the Michigan loss to Villanova in the men’s NCAA championship game. It was a fairly standard “what went wrong, what would you do differently, how do you feel about it?” sort of exercise, which Coach Beilein handled graciously. But when the interviewer asked Beilein about his team, he visibly brightened.
He talked about what a tremendous group they are. How they were a team of growth, of “no-nonsense,” meaning they took it upon themselves to make the right decisions on and off the court. He acknowledged how fortunate they were in avoiding injuries but their success was due primarily to the players practicing hard and being smart.
I’ve always liked Coach Beilein, but after watching this I thought to myself, “Wow, what a thoroughly decent human being. …I’ll never draw an editorial cartoon about him.”
Well, I was half right. Obviously, I did draw him (no, seriously, that’s supposed to be Beilein), but I wouldn’t necessarily call it an editorial cartoon. Typically editorial cartoons challenge power and call out hypocrisy. Current leadership in politics and business seem to provide plenty of that — from fear-mongering to gaslighting to unabashed lying.
So I quickly changed my mind about drawing Coach Beilein to demonstrate the contrast. Recently I did a cartoon about a member of the Trump cabinet and opined in the commentary that at a certain point competency should have a higher value. I would like to add that decency should count for something, too.
John Auchter draws cartoons. Lots and lots of them, each one better than the last. You can find them at auchtoon.com. You can also find his stuff on Michigan Public Radio’s website under Opinion.
That is what leadership looks like.
I am confused. Why are so many of the “best people” and “good men” Trump surrounds himself with being fired, investigated, charged, or served search warrants? Does the saying ” you are what you surround youself with.” apply here? Does Trump admire them so much because they are just like him? Hmmm…I wonder.
Both a good coach and a good man. Nice one.
John, You restore my faith in political cartoonists. So many times cartoonists point out only the bad “stuff.” You have reminded me that the really good ones also show us the good side of humanity.
Thank you.
There is no decency or compentcy in the White House.
Yes. Right on. But! We are holding Coach Beilein to an impossible standard. Everybody has something in the past. If he ran for office, somebody might find out he tried to kiss his third grade teacher, back in 1930, or some such thing.
If you ever decide to do a cartoon about me, please just say, “mostly good intentions,” “pretty good,” “fairly clever,” “above average grammar. That would give me a little clearance.
We are holding him to an unfair impossible standard. The media giants created all those witch hunts (a term I heard way too many times in the past year.) All the “Hollywood” and “Washington” scandals that have come out in the past year alone are repeated over and over on the news, and more and more cases keep coming to light. Sadly, it has even burst open in the churches, schools, and the most sacred space, or so we thought, in the homes and the families and “friends” who live there.
I am not saying in any way that these things should be hushed, absolutely not!! There is just so much of it What is wrong with this world? What the heck is going on??
Thanks John for acknowledging Coach Beilein, and the decency of many people whose stories end up on page 10, because sex scandals take up pages 1 through 9.