They were
bold.
They were
brash.
They were
arrogant.
They were
cocky.
They were
outspoken.
They were
irreverent.
They were Americans.
Oh yes, and World Cup Champions
again!
Throughout
the entire thirty-day length of the Women’s World Cup Championship over one
billion fans from around the world watched in awe, sometimes horror, shock, and
in the end respect for the US Women’s National Soccer Team.
In the final
round of eight teams there were seven European teams versus the United States,
the best competition the world had to offer.
Seven to one against you is just the kind of challenge Americans are
born to thrive on.
Thrive they
did by overcoming serious challenges on the pitch, along with wave after wave
of controversy, condemnation, and consternation off the field. In the end, the Americans let their actions
on the field match their words and only the Americans were left standing at the
end of the grueling battle.
You must
have the skills to be champions, but you also must have the character to breath
fire into your emotions to help you be the best in the world. No one has ever done it better. So now we know, you can love them or hate
them but you cannot beat them. For that
they deserve the admiration of all those who questioned their actions on and
off the field.
Can they help heal the Nation?
They defended
the nation’s honor, perhaps they can help heal the nation as well. As they return World Champions maybe they can
help demonstrate those qualities that have been missing in our divided nation.
Partisan politics
have dominated our landscape and driven millions into hatred, social chaos,
fear, a lack of respect for others, and an unwillingness to work together to
solve those problems. In short, we no
longer communicate.
If these
champions are truly concerned with women’s rights, pay equality, and ending
discrimination, they should know there is only one sure path to getting
anything done to help their causes.
They need to
be heard by the people who get things done in America, like the President. If I were them, I would use the stage they
earned as world champions to reach a greater stage like the President of the United
States. Rather than disrespecting the
Office of the President they should agree to visit the White House so they can
take their concerns to someone who can help them bring about change.
The Lesson of Speaker Pelosi
Maybe they
can learn from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Last week she had her Democrat controlled
House pass a spending bill for immigration which differed from the bill supported
by the president. Trump’s bill crushed her
efforts and he had bi-partisan support which she did not. It was a masterpiece of power politics that
even the news media has tried to ignore.
If the US
team refuses to meet with the president as expected, they will eliminate their
only chance to convince him to be their ally on some pretty reasonable women’s causes. They might even find some unexpected support
from the First Lady and the President’s daughter, and it is nice to have
powerful allies in the White House.
The AOC Minefield
If they
spurn the president and refuse to meet and the outspoken critic of the
president on the women’s team, Megan Rapinoe, goes ahead with her announced
plan to meet with the radical Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, known as AOC,
the rare opportunity to be a voice for women will be blown.
Why, because
AOC, while being the darling of the news media, has done absolutely nothing in
Congress and is on the verge of destroying the Democrat Party. Rapinoe should take heed of the words of
Speaker Pelosi about AOC this weekend.
House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi again dismissed freshman like Rep.Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,
downplaying the amount of power they had amid a flurry of attention the media
gave them.
“All
these people have their public whatever and their Twitter world,” Pelosi said of Reps. Ocasio-Cortez,
Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib, D-Michigan, and Ayanna Pressley, D-Massachusetts.
Her comments
came during a New York Times interview, published on
Saturday after those four voted against a Republican measure
funding humanitarian assistance at the border – which was eventually
backed by Pelosi.
Pelosi
followed her Twitter comments, saying "But they didn’t have any
following. They’re four people and that’s how many votes they got.”
The soccer
team can be just another voice in the wilderness, or take their case to the
highest authority. Right now, they are
pawns in a very dangerous game of credibility.
