2014 is the summer of challenges.
ISIL is challenging the fragile Iraqi state, just as Vladimir Putin is challenging the West’s resolve with his forays in Crimea.
On the domestic front, President Obama’s minions are challenging (not formally, but praying for) Republicans to drag the country into another impeachment soap opera.
Then there’s the ALS ice-bucket challenge, which has lured in some notable politicians — with the notable exception of the President.
Here’s one challenge you probably weren’t aware of: Nevada Sen. Dean Heller’s dare to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to grow a beard in honor of Nevada’s coming sesquicentennial.
Here’s Heller, who’s now sporting stubble, explaining how the beard challenge stems from a childhood recollection of Nevada’s 1964 centennial celebration:
“I was about four years old, sitting on the steps of the state Capitol. We were sitting there, the whole family, listening to the band playing and I said, ‘Dad, I didn’t know you could grow a beard.’ And he said, ‘I’m growing it for the centennial.’
“Anyway, I was speaking to this group and said because my dad did it for the centennial, I’m doing it for the sesquicentennial. And Harry was there. And I challenged Harry to do the same thing.
He looked at me (and said) ‘No way, not a chance.'”
The Senate Majority Leader, with a little photoshopping . . .
Granted, the notion that politicians no longer sport beards has puzzled reporters for years now (among the theories: voters simply prefer clean-shaven pols; thanks to the introduction of the safety razor a century ago, it’s just that easier to sneak in a quick and bloodless shave on the campaign trail).
indeed, a year ago a group of concerned citizens formed The Bearded Entrepreneurs for the Advancement of a Responsible Democracy (need I spell out the acronym?) with the dream of breaking the presidential whisker curse (not since Charles Evans Hughes in 1916 has either major party gone with a bearded nominee).
Or maybe it’s something to do with the fact that politicians oft-times grow a beard when they’re out of a job and finding their way through the post-election borderline-line depression wilderness — like Al Gore in his early post-White House days (the veep’s facial growth once deemed one of the “15 most scary and culturally-relevant beards of all time”).
And for Reid, that wilderness wouldn’t begin until after the 2016 election, assuming he goes for a sixth term.
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