OPINION:
’That was so unladylike,” I quipped.
My husband deadpanned, “That’s no lady, that’s the speaker of the House.”
Like everyone, we were stunned by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s antics at President Trump’s State of the Union address. My good hubby is a perfect gentleman, and in 35 years of marriage, I can count the negative things he has said about people on one hand. He was so blunt this time that it made me laugh.
But the sad truth is that our culture is in dire need of female role models, and the most powerful woman in politics has failed to be one.
Mrs. Pelosi acts more like Cruella de Vil in Disney’s “101 Dalmatians” than she does a woman at the apex of the nation that is the most prosperous and generous in the world. Cartoonist Gary Varvel was genius in his recent illustration of Mrs. Pelosi as the evil Cruella throwing a vitriolic temper tantrum.
What Mrs. Pelosi fails to realize in choosing to emulate the children’s cartoon character is that the purpose of the villain is to teach that being treacherous is not something to which one should aspire. Yet Mrs. Pelosi seems to relish it.
Doesn’t she care that our daughters are watching?
While Mrs. Pelosi criticizes Mr. Trump for his behavior, she engages in childish antics like a pro. Remember her seal clap at last year’s State of the Union? Have you seen the expressions she makes behind the president’s back — the ones that look like a 5-year-old getting her ears washed?
It also didn’t give me much hope for the young women watching when the camera focused on Mrs. Pelosi’s white-clad coven of cohorts. Mercifully, at least they left their pink hats at home. As the speaker gnarled and grimaced throughout the president’s brilliant speech, they seemed to be in a trance awaiting signals from their exalted leader about how they should react. God forbid that any of our daughters would turn into the glassy-eyed robotic women in the U.S. Congress.
Thankfully, all was not lost that night. As the camera panned up to the House Gallery, America’s daughters were treated to two visions of loveliness in the forms of our elegant first lady and the beautiful Kathryn Limbaugh.
All of America knows of Rush Limbaugh and the good that he has done for freedom and for our country. When the president bestowed the nation’s highest honor on Rush — the Presidential Medal of Freedom — we all witnessed the grace of Melania Trump as she awarded the medal to Mr. Limbaugh. And it was in those same moments that most Americans got their first glimpse of Kathryn.
Both Mrs. Trump and Mrs. Limbaugh have been targets of extreme vitriol over the years. Both have watched their brave husbands brutally excoriated for standing up for truth and freedom. Yet they remain women of dignity, composure and a very classy style.
Another poignant image emerged during the State of the Union that had the power to obliterate the ugliness that the feminists attempted to force into America’s living rooms. Our daughters and sons were treated to a brief but moving display of the love and comfort that a wife can provide her husband. A teary Rush Limbaugh, obviously overcome by the emotion of that night and the recent diagnosis of advanced lung cancer, leaned his face into his wife’s. The tenderness with which she responded said volumes about her heart and femininity and their marriage.
Two lasting and very different types of women emerged during the State of the Union. On the one hand, a childish, powerful woman willfully desecrated the office of the speaker of the House. In her corner, women so consumed by bitterness that they could not even bring themselves to celebrate the victory of the lowest female unemployment rate in history. On the other hand, two gracious ladies refused to allow the lies and hatred constantly spewed on them to penetrate their hearts of gold. Mrs. Trump and Mrs. Limbaugh exemplify that true strength comes from character. They reveal that real power is found in being gracious.
Mrs. Pelosi and her coven don’t seem to care that they do not have the right to be considered role models. With their selfish, sophomoric behavior, they have revealed the truth: feminists don’t seek to inspire and lift women up, they seek to destroy any cultural memory of what it means to be a lady.
America’s daughters deserve better.
⦁ Rebecca Hagelin can be reached at rebecca@rebeccahagelin.com.
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