Baseball season dawns and incredibly the first wild pitch got thrown by Republican Congressmen Steve Womack with an op-ed published in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette in early January.
His staff also emailed a copy of that op-ed to news outlets the same day.
Womack's brazen op-ed chastising his colleagues in the House of Representatives for taking 15 rounds of voting before electing Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House bounced around like a pinball, hitting everything but the strike zone.
Congressman Womack, apparently, has forgotten his sports background as a former play-by-play announcer. Boxing matches are typically scheduled for 15 rounds. They don't always go 15 rounds, yet that's the time limit.
Womack did use one sports analogy but his reference to legalized gambling may have been a poor choice of words when examining the spendthrift actions by Congress including the recent omnibus funding bill.
Womack stated, "In the spirit of Oaklawn, when the starting gates opened, the new majority threw its jockey." What actually transpired would be more akin to Womack and several other Republicans jumping off their horses in mid-race.
Congressman Womack's witnessed enough baseball games in his career that he should know the difference in strategies when playing with a 4-run lead as opposed to playing from behind and facing a 4-run deficit.
Womack tried to explain casting his vote with Democrats in favor of the omnibus funding bill in late December as maintaining local interests but passage of that bill effectively eliminated what would have been a blue chip bargaining tool for the incoming Republican majority.
That was like issuing an intentional walk with the bases loaded in the ninth inning. Womack let the Democrats manufacture a run instead of forcing them to play ball and swing the bat.
Every baseball fan knows that's no way to close out an opponent.
Womack coined words like "chaos," then concluded his op-ed by stating he "will continue to use each vote to fight for hardworking Arkansas families and the future of freedom and opportunity."
There are Arkansans who question if that's what Womack meant when Congress went into session, out of the eyes of public scrutiny, in the wee hours of Jan. 7, 2021, and voted to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Seems like he forgot his sports background then too.
During professional football games it's a common occurrence for the game to experience delays when the outcome of a particular play is judged "under official review."
Congress could have opted to wait 10 days before certifying that controversial election.
When the Democrats held the White House and controlled both houses of Congress in 2021 and 2022, they clearly demonstrated they know how to play with a lead.
They also demonstrated they know how to play from behind in 2020 when Republican President Donald J. Trump occupied the White House and Democrats didn't own a majority in the Senate.
Former New York Times page editor James Bennet, described as a diehard, liberal Democrat, didn't fare well in 2020 when he opted to publish Senator Tom Cotton's op-ed, recognizing the combat deployment of a decorated war veteran.
The Times 86ed Bennet, which could be considered the political equivalent of attempting to get a balk called after a pitch has already been delivered, a shrewd political tactic designed to take away the effectiveness of a pitch.
I dare say, had Womack been caucusing with the Democrats in the House in 2022, then delivered a wild pitch undermining the 222-213 majority they held then, they would have dealt with him in the same manner Major League Baseball handles rogue pitchers.
He would have been kicked out of the party, put on waivers and they would have wasted no time in going to the bullpen to find a new pitch man who would hold the party line.
Mark Humphrey is a sports writer for the Enterprise-Leader. Opinions expressed are those of the author.