This morning’s Washington Post, the concluding edition of 2014, carries a photo taken on Tuesday.

At the bottom of Page B6 you can view the picture: Maryland Governor-Elect Larry Hogan behind a lectern, flanked on his right by two American flags and two political appointees, and on his left by two Maryland flags and two more appointees.

Official and patriotic. Looks like a picture straight out of the 1950s.

To summarize, five white men in dark suits, middle-aged or older, in a row at the front of a press conference. If anyone was wondering what Maryland voted for in the 2014 General Election, there you have it. Old, white men in suits. What you see is what you get.

(I resemble that remark, “Old, white men in suits.” Please hold the hate mail. Being an old, white man myself, I claim privilege to ridicule. Please sentence me to time served, and release me to the supervision of my parole officer and the nursing home and/or asylum. To clarify: I am an old, white Democrat. I wear a suit and tie under duress, and only after all appeals have been denied.)

Let the record show that all the Hogan appointments to date appear to be well-qualified for their positions.

You may have heard that Maryland is a diverse state. Numerous races, ethnic groups, two genders, more than two legal sexual orientations. The Maryland Republican Party gets all that. I’m giving them the presumption of the doubt. Mr. Hogan has inoculated himself against the very point I raise by choosing an African-American to be his running mate, and now, by virtue of electoral success, the next lieutenant governor.

I won’t venture any predictions for 2015, much less the entire four-year term of the Hogan administration. Let the photo on B6 speak for itself. Such is the state of politics in Maryland on the cusp of 2015.

Have a Merry New Year. Choose to drink, or to drive. One only, not both.

— John Hayden