Not A Problem

I know there’s going to be some kind of uproar about this:

The gold medal-winning U.S. women’s hockey team is turning down President Trump’s invitation to attend the State of the Union (SOTU) address, citing conflicting “academic and professional commitments.”

Actually, I’m going to file this under “Whatever”, because it doesn’t matter.  I remember when Michael Jordan turned down an invitation from Bill Clinton to visit the White House, giving as a reason the fact that Clinton’s latest tax increase had severely impacted his financial state.

I didn’t care then, and I didn’t care now.  Some time ago, I think I asked the question about getting an invitation from Obama or Biden to visit the White House, and being surprised at the vitriolic response.

And yes, I know that these girls were representing the United States, and how dare they turn down an invitation from the President of the United States.

To borrow a line from the Left:  he’s not a king, and the invitation is not a Royal Summons.

Al that said, however, I do find it difficult to believe that every single member of the team has an “academic and professional commitment” which would make accepting an invitation impossible.  My question is:  who first suggested that these kids turn down the invitation as a team, rather than allowing individuals to make up their own mind?  Or do all the team members hate Trump that much?

And let’s be honest:  an invitation to attend the SOTU address would be a way for these kids to be recognized and applauded by the nation, on prime time TV.  If they want to be churlish and tun down that opportunity, well, there’s no law against bad manners.

Finally, I think it would e very wrong to think of punishing the team, its members or the USOC in some way – e.g. by cutting off their funding or something like that.  Now that would be churlish.

It’s not the end of the world.  Forget about it, and them, and let’s focus on more important matters.

All that said, I’m glad to see how the gold-winning men’s team has responded to the same Presidential invitation.  The above article makes no mention of that, but here’s one that does:

The president went on to extend an invitation to have the team at his State of the Union address on Tuesday, to which a chorus of players immediately answered, “We’re in!”

One player asked if they could have help getting to Washington, DC.

“We’ll get Kash or we’ll get the military to get you guys over,” Trump replied, garnering more cheers from the athletes.

At the end of the call, Trump said, “We love you guys. Congratulations… I’m going to shake hands with everybody, but I got to shake hands with that goalie!”

There ya go, and the hell with the chicks.