It may have been the great tennis player Chris Everett who said that watching the great tennis player John McEnroe throw one of his temper tantrums on the court was a lot like watching an artist produce a masterpiece and then deface it with a can of spray paint.
It’s an interesting point.
McEnroe, one of the finest players of his time, may be better remembered today for the enfant terrible that he was, rather than one of the last great serve-and-volley masters that he is.
We are reminded of McEnroe as we think about Jim Carlton this week.
Carlton, who stepped down as Lincoln County Republican Committee Chairman during the chaos of the State Republican Conventions May 5 and 6, didn’t just resign. He quit in the middle of the convention and made sure to express his displeasure on his way out the door.
We’re afraid Carlton’s farewell may obscure the memory of his leadership, which even his detractors will admit was very, very good. Picking up the baton from his immediate predecessor and now successor Earl Inman, Carlton proved to be a dynamic force of organization and promotion.
He organized the cluster meetings that pulled Republican activists from several towns together to share their concerns. Between elections he kept up a steady stream of publicity keeping the cause and the issues in the public eye.
Unfortunately, the true test of leadership is duress and here Carlton failed and failed badly. It may be that he didn’t like the way the convention was going and maybe he didn’t like the way he was being treated. If it felt like he was being ambushed by his own troops; we don’t really blame him for feeling like his leadership wasn’t necessary.
However, there is a right and wrong way to exit, and Carlton, unfortunately for his legacy, declined an opportunity to exit gracefully.
If he is truly done with politics it is a loss for his party. If he ever wants to come back and if his burst of anger has burned the bridges behind him, then it is truly a loss for him.
