Pandering POTUS: Biden takes a knee during WNBA team's celebratory White House visit

AP Photo/Evan Vucci

The WNBA championship team, the Seattle Storm, visited the White House on Monday. It was odd enough to see reports of the celebratory visit, given the events in Afghanistan, but the optics of this visit were made worse by the social justice warrior tone. Sports are no longer allowed to be fun distractions from everyday life, now teams must shove their political views on fans. Joe Biden was happy to help.

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One part of the story is not being widely reported. During a photo opportunity with the team, Joe Biden took a knee. Out in front of the team, Biden held a team jersey given to him and kneeled.

You might think he was kneeling so as not to block out any of the team members from the photo. He took other photos with the team while holding the honorary jersey, though, so that doesn’t necessarily fly.

We also can read comments from social justice warriors who appreciated Sleepy Joe’s gesture of support. It’s not the first time Biden has pandered to a sports team’s political activism.

President Joe Biden got down on one knee in the East Room during the celebration of the 2021 WNBA champions Seattle Storm, on the eve of the vote on the John Lewis Voting Rights Act in the House and days before the anniversary of the March on Washington.

While the WNBA has been at the forefront of professional basketball when it comes to issues of social justice and police reform, this is not the first time the president gotten down on one knee with a sports organization. One photo cited by a White House source pointed to a picture with the Los Angeles Dodgers, celebrating their Major League Baseball championship.

Latasha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, said the president’s possible gesture was admirable. However, Brown cautioned “we cannot just have symbolic progress.”

Cliff Albright, co-founder and executive director of Black Voters Matter, said their focus remains on “passing comprehensive police reform on policy and voting rights,” and getting the president to recognize “that the filibuster has metaphorically had a knee on us for a long time.”

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Note to Biden: Nothing will ever be enough. No gesture will be big enough. Once you kowtow to score cred with activists, they expect a complete surrender.

President Biden’s inaction is also a flashpoint for Brown. She questioned, “where is that kind of passion and energy and commitment to voting rights? Because I’m not seeing him actually be able to say that he’s willing to do that.”

Brown is part of the leadership for the Good Trouble rally that is taking place on Saturday, the anniversary of the March on Washington. There is another activation on the same day, the annual commemoration of the March on Washington led by Reverend Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III. Both activations on Saturday will focus on the issue of voting rights and police reform.

I admit that I was appalled about the celebratory visit to the White House as it became publicized. The first thought that surfaced was with all that is going on and the seriousness of the crisis in Afghanistan, why did Team Biden think this was a good idea? His seriousness about the international disaster is already in question.

Now he deliberately looks as though he is going about his merry way without a care in the world. Biden took a knee and it wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment gesture. A career politician with fifty years in Washington doesn’t do anything that isn’t planned in advance.

Biden’s remarks during the ceremony were further proof of his bizarre focus on women’s advancement at the White House while Afghan women and children are desperate to get on a plane out of their country. American women are trapped in Afghanistan, thanks to Biden’s disastrous decisions. Biden didn’t mention that during his remarks. Instead, he chose to talk about Kamala and her trip overseas, also a very strange move during an international crisis. He mentioned she is traveling to Asia on his behalf and somehow it’s because she’s a woman or something.

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President Joe Biden praised Kamala Harris during an event with the WNBA champions Seattle Storm on Monday and joked he may need a job soon, volunteering his services as ball boy.

Biden thanked the four-time championship women’s basketball team for being an inspiration to women and girls around the world, saying it was important because ‘until they see it, till they watch, it becomes real.’

‘That’s why we have a female vice president,’ he added, saying he expects ‘we’re going to have some presidents pretty soon.’

He also praised the social activism of the women’s basketball league.

The WNBA dedicated its 2020 season to Breonna Taylor and the Say Her Name movement, which raises awareness for black female victims of police violence. Taylor was killed by police during a botched raid on her Kentucky home.

‘What makes this team remarkable is they don’t just win games they change lives, encouraging people to get vaccinated so we can beat this pandemic speaking out and standing up for racial justice and voting rights,’ he said.

He may need a job soon? Is he preparing us for Kamala’s takeover of the Oval Office?

Biden slobbered over Sue Bird, fiancee of star soccer player Megan Rapinoe, who bullied her own team members into kneeling before games according to reports.

Biden also praised the women ownership of the team – majority owners Ginny Gilder, Lisa Brummel and Dawn Trudeau, who were in attendance.

And he noted that he had co-captain Sue Bird’s fiancé, soccer star Megan Rapinoe, at the White House earlier this year for an equal pay event.

‘Between the two of them they share Olympic medals, World Cup titles, the WNBA championship,’ Biden said of the couple. ‘And above all, they define integrity and character. As President, as an American, I’m proud of how they represented us and they represent the best of what America stands for.’

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Sue Bird blames Trump for making White House visits by teams a political thing, of course, and says now that he’s gone, it’s great to visit the White House.

“I think for a very long time, up until 2016, going to the White House was an honour. It wasn’t necessarily political. It was to meet the president of the United States. The person who holds that office acknowledging your team’s success,” Bird told the AP. “It wasn’t political. I think that all shifted in 2016.”

“Now that it’s back in a place where it’s considered an honour and you’re recognised by the highest office in the country is exciting, it’s fun,” she added. “It’s not just about meeting the president or hopefully the vice president is there. It’s about the whole experience of being in the White House. Having a day that’s about your team and celebrating what you’ve accomplished.”

Malarkey. Athletes refused visits to the White House before Trump got there. Politics have colored those events for some time now. The Resistance just can’t let Trump go, though. He continues to live rent-free in their heads.

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Beege Welborn 5:00 PM | December 24, 2024
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