Almost unbelievably, it goes downhill from there.
You can read in her piece about the soiree of the ex-President and Clark's Indiana Fever as the team was "milling around an indoor court at the newly opened Obama Presidential Center on Chicago's South Side." Obama, the breathless Jenkins recounted, was suave enough "to gently remind them of certain truths." When he spoke to Clark, there was "a sweetness in the moment, a subtle teaching. In the nicest way, Obama shored Clark up..."
Jenkins remarks that the young superstar guard
can be either mesmerizing to watch or tiresome, depending on how aggrieved she feels on the day. Clark has complained that she is intentionally targeted with hard fouls—and sometimes she is, but not because she’s white. Mauling is the guaranteed, time-honored way to stop an otherwise insuperable player.
Highlights from video and television suggest that Clark can be mesmerizing to watch or tiresome and is sometimes "intentionally targeted with hard fouls." Further, Jenkins comments, "mauling is the guaranteed, time-honored way to stop an ohtewise insuperable player."
I don't watch WNBA games. But if the journalist believes that "mauling is the guaranteed, time-honored way to stop" a great player, she has not watched the National Basketball Association much in the past quarter century. The men often play an o'le defense (defense, optional), much to the annoyance of most of us in middle-age or above. And when the ball handler is a star, it is even more common for the defender (word used loosely) to make only a disinterested effort at stopping him. (If Jenkins were referring specifically to the women's league, she would not have used "time-honored" and would have clarified her remark.)
Nonetheless, she really is more interested in aleging that the mauling of Clark is "not because she's white."
But we don't know that, and Jenkins makes no effort to explain why she believes that. It is very likely that jealousy is involved. Though there have been seveal excellent players in the NBA, all have gone under the radar, elicing little attention or endorsements. Caitlin Clark joins the league, garners tremendous publicity and while lighting up the league, reaps endorsements and credit for making the WNBA a hot ticket (or at least much hotter than in the past).
Gun to head, I would say that race and/or the sexuality (straight) of Clark plays a role. However, that's only speculation- I would not assume, unlike Jenkins. I admit I may be wrong; she leaves no doubt of her certainty.
She also is certain about the ex-President. The article was not only about Jenkins' perception that the player embodies a sense of entitlement but also about Barack Obama's awesomeness. The latter "gave her grace" and "a lesson in how to be winning."
As it happens, President Obama was himself given a lesson in winning in his second term. One chapter in the recently-published U.S. Foreign Policy and Presidential Leadership in an Age of Strategic Uncertainty
explores the rise and fall of President Barack Obama’s “reset” policy toward Russia, highlighting its conciliatory approach and strategic missteps. Obama sought to improve US-Russia relations, leveraging cooperation on arms control, counterterrorism, and nuclear nonproliferation. However, his administration underestimated Russia’s expansionist ambitions, particularly in Ukraine, where limited sanctions and non-lethal aid failed to deter Russia’s aggression. The reset policy, rooted in Obama’s consequentialist worldview, prioritized avoiding escalation but overlooked long-term security risks. Ultimately, the policy’s shortcomings contributed to strained US-Russia relations, emboldened Moscow’s neo-imperialist aspirations, and left lasting negative impacts on European and global security.
In early 2012, President Obama assured outgoing Russian president Dmitry Medvedev that he would have "more flexibility" in dealing with Russia once he was re-elected later that year. Medvedev told Obama that he'd relay the information to incoming president Vladimir Putin.
Message received. Russia in 2014 annexed Crimea and invaded Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, part of which still is occupied by the Kremlin. The US response, consisting of mild sanctions, was tepid.
In 2024, we learned
According to Watergate journalist Bob Woodward's forthcoming book, War, (President Joe) Biden expressed discontent during a private conversation late last year over how his former running mate handled Russian troops invading Ukraine's eastern Donbas region in February 2014. At the time, Biden was serving as vice president under former President Barack Obama.
"They f***** up in 2014," Woodward quoted Biden
saying to a close friend in December 2023, according to the Associated Press,
who obtained a copy of Woodward's book before its publishing date of October
15. "Barack never took [Russian President Vladimir Putin] seriously."
Biden is also quoted as telling the friend that the White House "never should have let Putin just walk in there" and that Washington "did nothing" when Russia invaded.
Many Ukrainians consider the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 merely a continuation of the war begun in 2014. This is the particular "brand of power projected" by four presidents, whom she believes include Barack Obama and not Joe Biden. Yet, President Biden did what President Obama did not do and chose to defend Ukraine aggesively. As Sally Jenkins will tell you, Barack Obama knows "winning"- he did it twice. Unwittingly, he helped Vladimir Putin also do it.
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