Stop Letting Personal Embarrassment Drive Policy Decisions

I'm sorry that so many people keep making fun of your small penis. That kind of mockery is cruel, and nobody deserves to have their body made the punchline of a national joke. But embarrassment and anger about it cannot be allowed to drive reckless policy decisions and erratic behavior that affect millions of Americans. Renaming the Kennedy Center — a living memorial to an assassinated president — to put your own name on it looks like exactly the kind of wounded-pride move that invites more ridicule, not less. Closing it for two years compounds real damage to a cultural institution that belongs to all Americans. Mockery stops landing when you give it nothing to work with. Lead with substance and steady governance, and the jokes lose their power.