Why did Jill Biden even propose bringing the Iowa basketball team to the White House?

On Monday, the day after Louisiana State University Women’s basketball team won first NCAA championship, First Lady Jill Biden suggested that one of the most lenient awards bestowed on elite athletes – a visit to the White House – was best Winner (LSU) And the runners-up (Iowa). On Tuesday morning, Biden’s press secretary was forced to take it back in a particularly embarrassing way: a 6 o’clock tweet.

This is an unforced error for a government that has publicly committed to enacting policies that benefit Black Americans and promote Black women, who make up the majority of Americans LSU women’s basketball rosterbut let’s run it back to see what got the first lady in such an idiotic situation.

At an event in Denver, Biden gushed about attending the women’s national title game in Dallas the night before, for which tickets were available were more expensive than sold out Taylor Swift show across town. “Last night I attended the NCAA women’s basketball championship. Congratulations to both teams! So I know the champions are going to come to the White House, we always do. So we’re hoping that LSU comes, but I’ll tell Joe that I think Iowa should come too because they played such a good game,” she said, to which loud boos greeted a video out of CBS morning. “Winners and losers, that’s sportsmanship!”

is it anyway I can’t believe I’m holding up a visit to the White House important Part of sports culture but something we only give to winners! That line in the sand feels important. I can’t believe this puts me on the same page as this one three loser state senators from North Carolina who want Ban participation trophies from school sportsbut your allies sometimes come from the most unlikely of places.

LSU star Angel Reese chimed in and went viral:

After the press picked up on the first lady’s crazy idea, her staff quickly realized they had to push it back. Press spokeswoman Vanessa Valdivia rated the comment with exaggerated excitement. Secure! “The First Lady loved watching the NCAA women’s basketball championship game alongside young student-athletes and admires how far women have come in the sport since the passage of Title IX,” Valdivia said. “Your comments in Colorado should cheer the historic game and all women athletes. She looks forward to celebrating the LSU Tigers at the White House as they win the championship.”

Her husband has been in politics for decades, which means she has been close to politics for almost as long. However, Biden didn’t immediately get the optics of getting a majority black team to share a prize (however silly it might be) with a team led by a white star. She’s not a dummy, but that’s dummy behavior!

LSU players are currently in the spotlight, having attracted a record-breaking average of 9.9 million viewers during their game’s broadcast. At a post-game press conference, Reese herself addressed the racism she experienced as a top athlete on one of sport’s biggest stages. “All year I’ve been criticized for who I am. I don’t fit into the narrative,” she said. “I don’t fit in the box you want me in. I’m too bad. I’m too ghetto. You’ve been telling me that all year. But when other people do it and you all don’t say anything. So this is for the girls who look like me.”

Rewarding that self-love is important—perhaps even more so than keeping alive the silliest tradition in college sports: meeting a very old and powerful man when you prove you’re the best.