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obama and the old boy’s network

By American Girl in Italy on October 23, 2009 at 10:00 AM in Current Affairs

Obama invited a bunch of men to the White House for some hoops. No women were invited, and the men were members of the House. Some women are upset, calling this typical of the old boy’s network.

Obama thinks the whole issue is “bunk”. Really? What does he think the old boy’s network is?

How is this any different from the “old days” when men used to go to strip clubs or private male clubs to conduct business? Or when blacks were not included or allowed to attend anything?

This is face to face, bonding time with the President of the United States, in a high stakes business. There is no way this could be considered anything other than the old boy’s network.

The women should have been invited, and given the opportunity to accept or decline. But to not invite them, or offer them equal time with the President, is wrong.

And as Savannah points out, Obama golfs every weekend, with men. Women are quite capable of playing golf (and b-ball!).

Listen to how antiquated Obama is here:

Five to six years ago and Obama still felt it was all Michelle’s responsibility to care for the kids…? Why was it all her responsibility? Especially when Obama was only working 55 days a year in the IL Senate!

It’s like Mad Men in the White House…

Sexism, as we well know, is alive and well.

  • elizabethrc

    Obama is tone deaf on so many issues which the voters care about and this is just another one. He seems to feel that if HE feels good about it, everyone does. Obama is many things, but being an everyman is not one of them. He is an elitist, aloof, distant and emotionless person whose smile is his guile. It’s going to take more than those too-white teeth (racist???) to convince a growingly unconvinced electorate that he knows what he is doing in this job.

    • Docelder

      I was thinking that same thing “tone deaf” as summing him up… and here it is. But, I wonder to a point if it isn’t a degree of tone arrogance as well. He probably thinks if he controls the press, and controls the message then everything else won’t matter. But the smoke isn’t so smoky… and the mirrors aren’t working so well either. If the domestic press minus Fox won’t report the truth, the foreign press is starting to. From the British Telegraph

      The decline in Barack Obama’s popularity since July has been the steepest of any president at the same stage of his first term for more than 50 years.

      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/6409721/Barack-Obama-sees-worst-poll-rating-drop-in-50-years.html

      I guess the reality show is becoming all to real. It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy either.

      • Lana

        Wow. Not so easy for the WH to dismiss this kind or article–it’s from overseas, the people who supposedly LOVE him, and it’s NOT Fox. Can’t wait to see the spin on this one.

  • oowawa

    The women should have been invited, and given the opportunity to accept or decline. But to not invite them, or offer them equal time with the President, is wrong.

    But what if the guys invite the girls, and the girls win? For example, what if somebody invited Sarah Barracuda to the guys’ hoops party? What if the girls get “uppity” and learn how to slam dunk? Best not to upset the natural order of things. Eve had her chance to do right and she messed it up and brought all mankind down with her. Maybe they could invite a few girls if they passed out pom-poms and let them be cheerleaders for the guys, but other than that . . .

    • beachnan

      I think the ladies are better off not having to play ball with the Prez. I imagine the gentlemen invited probably have to give the guy a break and let him win. We don’t want a President with a bruised ego now do we? He just might take his ball and go home with it. Did anyone else notice that even the damn basketball is sporting an Obama logo. That disgusting logo is everywhere. I’d like to tell them where they could stick that logo.

  • bill

    Sebelius played varsity basketball at Trinity Washington University. Think Mr. O’s exclusion of women is conservative Muslim misogyny?

    • http://N/A breeze

      “Think Mr. O’s exclusion of women is conservative Muslim misogyny?”

      I’ve been thinking THAT for a very long time, Bill.
      Since the primaries, not just because of the manner
      he used with HRC, but because of the condescending
      attitude he used with women in general.

  • Doc99
    • Tammy

      Great link Doc99.
      Obama’s Muslim appointee supports Sharia?

      Yup.
      Obama just LOVES women.
      Put ‘em in burkas!
      Cut off their clits!
      Bring on the Honor Killings!

      Show Islam some “respect”(as Obama himself puts it).

  • ImaLlindatoo

    Oh, Obama is trying to show sympatico with women, he was wearing make up….and me thinks the women who apparently dabbed his forehead of sweat before the interview started removed some make up. Did you see those light circles on his forehead? lmao

    I actually thought at first it was his horns starting to grow.

    Tell the pres, no dark powder as the only make-up/foundation, unless it’s high mineral where it won’t lift off so easily.

    • oowawa

      Did you see those light circles on his forehead?

      What I’ve always noticed is the circles of light hovering over His forehead . . . Perhaps the “make up” is a glow-in-the-dark phosphorescent cream–that would partly explain His remarkable radiance . . .

      • ImaLlindatoo

        I think his kharma is burning everything out. No radiance, no brightness,just dull and scraggly lookin’ to me. See, enuf Obama and he ruin’s everything.

        Seriously, did MEchelle instruct to make him darker at the last minute or something? He looks so funny.

  • kenoshamarge

    I would just like to ask MS Magazine and Ellie Smeal if they still think this is really what a Feminist looks like?

    http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/27/ms_magazine_on_barack_obama_this

  • Sassy

    Hey, women are supposed to do the mopping!
    He told Nancy to grab a mop.
    Basketball is for studs. Were there any there?
    I can’t figure out his make-up…sometimes pasty, sometimes medium, sometimes mahogany.
    He really is indecisive!

  • http://www.sonicninjakitty.wordpress.com Sonic Ninja Kitty

    He is condescending in every area. Supremely irritating. Great post, AGI!

  • mountainaires

    Don’t Look Now, But Obama and the White House are not only pissing off the women in the House of Representatives for his stupidity and ADOLESCENT ATTITUDES, but he’s also pissing off his media sycophants at CNN, who are defending FOX News now.

    This President is every bit as juvenile as the last one. It’s pathetic.

    http://www.businessinsider.com/entire-media-in-revolt-after-white-house-denies-fox-an-interview-with-pay-czar-2009-10

    • Docelder

      Well Obama said just the other day that Fox news wasn’t news but was “talk radio”. I guess the White House press corps thinks otherwise. They had better think that way, because they are all possibly next if this keeps on. If the White House can determine Fox isn’t news, then why not ABC or CNN? If they can make these determinations, then there is nothing stopping the White House from co-opting one of them and making them “real” and the others not. Maybe the press gets at least that much. This administration is nobody’s friend. They may fly you around and feed you well, but push come to shove you are a means to an end and not the end itself.

      • Lana

        If they can make these determinations, then there is nothing stopping the White House from co-opting one of them and making them “real” and the others not

        I don’t think the other media outlets quite get that yet, but they are on their way. However, all Obama has to do is make nice with them for about 30 seconds and they will be back to fawning all over him.

        And just for the record, I predict a big bump in his poll numbers as the anniversary of his election coronation theft of the presidency approaches and the media remembers those tingly leg days. It won’t mean a thing, but watch for those in-the-tank outlets to tell us it’s raining while they piss on our legs (as Ferd would say.)

        • Lana

          Did something wrong–the first sentence is supposed to be the quote and the rest is my reaction. Sorry.

      • sandi78

        I dream of the day when Ozero gives a press conference…and nobody shows up.

      • b mathews

        wouldnt it be cool if the WH gave a press conference and no one showed up?

  • http://www.rabblerouserruminations.blogspot.com/ Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy

    GREAT post, AGII!! Yes, there are any number of women who could take Obama on. It is very telling that his cabinet has fewer women, and that he engages so little with women in a lighter sort of way.

    OF COURSE Obama isn’t going to acknowledge he’s a sexist pig!! But those of us who supported Hillary sure knew it…

    And when in the HELL did everyone start using the word, “notion”???

  • Margaret

    I’ve been thinking for some time now that he just should have been a basketball player, and left politics to the pros.

    • Lana

      What a perfect solution! He can have all the adoration he wants…sort of like George who would much rather have just owned a baseball team.

    • Animal Contro;

      He wasn’t even first string on his high school team. He’s just tall, little skill.

  • helenk

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8321463.stm

    backtrack was born under a one way sign and really could care less who he insults. Women and people who are not useful to him have no importance to him. He will use them then throw them under the bus in a heartbeat.

    How many times has he insulted England, while her men are fighting along with ours in Afghanistan?

    WOMEN WITH INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERIENCE, MEN WHO SUPPORT THEM AND COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY ALWAYS

    PUMAS,BUBBAS,EQUALISTS AND THOSE PEOPLE RULE

    • helenk

      Does Olympia Snow really believe backtrack will respect her in the morning? When her usefulness is over he won’t even remember her name.

      WOMEN WITH INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERIENCE,MEN WHO SUPPORT THEM AND COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY ALWAYS

      PUMAS,BUBBAS,EQUALISTS AND THOSE PEOPLE RULE

      • Senneth

        Evidently, Helen, Olympia drank the kool-aid. How special. I hope her constituents remember her sell out when her re-election looms.

  • Sassy

    This grammy is busting with pride!
    My granddaughter is leading in nearly all the basketball stats of her highschool, and is closing fast on the all time scoring record!
    Like her mom before her, her athletic accomplishments will pay off in the business world.
    Eventually, women will gain equality, and leave sexists eating their dust!

    • helenk

      Sassy
      congratulation from another proud grandmother of a girl basketball player.
      May she go all the way. If you can find a dvd of a hallmark movie called Annie O, I think she might like it. It is about a girl who played high school basketball on the boys team because there were no girls teams.

      WOMEN WITH INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERIENCE,MEN WHO SUPPORT THEM AND COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY ALWAYS

      PUMAS,BUBBAS,EQUALISTS AND THOSE PEOPLE RULE

  • helenk

    OT

    Larry what can you tell us about the protection of these sites?

    http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/77650.html

    This does not sound too good to me.

    WOMEN WITH INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERIENCE,MEN WHO SUPPORT THEM AND COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY ALWAYS

    PUMAS,BUBBAS,EQUALISTS AND THOSE PEOPLE RULE

  • James

    I’ll state the obvious: Women of voting age outnumber men of voting age. Women are in a position to determine the outcome of most elections in America. Women are one of the main reasons Obama got elected.

    • Nobama4me

      Yes, women(and womens’organizations) sold themselves/their votes really cheap, without ever asking for anything in return. For some it was enough that he was not Hillary. For others that he had a D after his name. For others still that he was not G.W.. They got what he promised them and what they asked from him: nothing.

      • lauraks

        Even the basketball he’s holding has his logo on it! Wow!

        • Lana

          Gag!

        • Boxer Mum 06

          I wonder if he autographs a ball for all of the boys he plays with as a souvenir? I wonder if they sell them in the WH gift shop? Maybe he gave one to Sarkozy and Brown when they met?

      • ziggy

        The Equal Pay bill doesn’t matter? A woman–and former opponent–as Secretary of State isn’t relevant? SCHIP doesn’t matter to the mothers of kids in desperate need of medical care? His executive order creating a White House Council on Women and Girls is a complete sham?

        While not specifically relating to women’s rights, I would think most mothers would approve of the anti-tobacco bill he recently signed, which is specifically concerned with preventing young people from taking up an addiction he’s fighting himself. I would think women would approve of the bill he signed curtailing some of the worst abuses of credit card companies, since families were often the worst-hit victims. Maybe they would have some interest in the recent Hate Crime bill?

        People who assert he’s doing nothing for regular people aren’t paying attention, in my humble opinion. They’re magnifying every negative interpretation and denying the positive altogether.

  • helenk

    http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-433907
    20091023?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

    It is not only women that backtrack disses,it is some of our allies. In the long run this will hurt us more.

    WOMEN WITH INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERIENCE,MEN WHO SUPPORT THEM AND COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY ALWAYS

    PUMAS,BUBBAS,EQUALISTS AND THOSE PEOPLE RULE

  • helenk
  • Diana L. C.

    Here’s my gripe always in this issue–but, first, let me give my background.

    Let me say that I LOVE that women are now doing so well in sports. It’s a marvelous thing for this women, who had to learn basketball when we were still being taught half-court rules. (I bet most of you may not even know what that was.) As the cheerleader/pep club advisor back in 1972, I made a speech at a junior high athletic dinner for coaches, dads, and players. The cheerleaders had been invited as bling, or something. I basically said in essence that it was sad for me that the only way girls got invited and recognized was as adjuncts who were supposed to look pretty and praise and support the boys from the sidelines. Our school’s girls’ athletic “clubs” at the time were actually doing better in their games/meets, etc., than the boys’ “teams.”

    It wasn’t a well-received speech.

    The difference between the “team” designation at the time was that they got to practice during prime times after school, got school funding for busses to the events, for uniforms, refs, coaches’ pay, etc. The “club” designation meant that the girls had to wait and come back to practice. Their coaches didn’t get coaches’pay, getting only an almost nothing amount for being a club advisor. They had to go door to door raising money for everything, etc.

    This was right before Colorado passed the equal rights thing for girls’ sports under some “Chapter” designation before it became Title IX.

    Long story, shortened. I have two left feet, no coordination, not desire to play sports. Never did, never will. I’ve been a nerd all my life.

    So, while I am very imporessed with women athletes, just as I am with the male athletes, I am going to go at this thing from a different perspective.

    I think it’s wrong that women weren’t invited. But mostly I think it’s wrong if this is going on during times when these government employees should be working. It’s not fair to anyone, male or female, who is athletically challenged, as I am.

    So, yes, it smacks of the old boys’ club. And don’t tell me that political alliances aren’t formed on the court. Don’t tell me that the human tendency to go soft on, or make under the counter deals with, someone in politics if you’ve had a bonding experience on the court doesn’t occur.

    KEEP SPORTS COMPLETELY OUT OF POLITICS.

    There are other people in other organizations they can compete with. Some day I hope we have this discussion about how some politicians weren’t invited to the Presidents’ jeopardy weekly jeopardy game, or trivia contest, or poetry slam. Hey, I’ll take any of you on as far as English and American literature is concerned. (You get my drift.) :-)

  • Docelder

    I have long thought that the way Obama wooed the press and wooed women voters reminded me of every “player” who tells his victim what they want to hear and then has his way with them. This story reminded me, it’s my version of the parable of the pimp.

    Pimp tells of ‘selling’ girls with dream

    To get a girl to prostitute herself, a pimp must first “sell her a dream” by confessing his love and promising her a future.

    http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010113369_prostitutiontrial22m.html

    Which brings me back to the original thought. Is Barack the most successful pimp ever? Is hope and change anything but a dream? Has he done any more than prostitute and co-opt the left for support… and all he has done in return is take what is theirs and all he has given in return are pimp beatings of sorts?

  • IndieDogg

    If anybody had any question about this “man”‘s attitude toward women (I put the term man in quotes because I don’t consider him worthy of the title), it should have been forever answered by the “sweetie” comment he tossed to the female reporter on the campaign trail.

    I cannot fathom uttering that word in that context, ever. That he did, and with such non-chalance, should tell us all we ever needed to know.

    When will we come to understand that the best evidence against someone is their own words. I would have put that clip into a continuous loop and run it for the full length of a 30-second TV ad. Nothing more need be said.

    Ah, it would be so lovely to see Sarahcuda and Sebelius running a little pick and roll on the jerk water mama’s boy and taking it to the hole — and him to the wood shed.

    • ziggy

      Right. A woman who decided to bail out on the people who elected her as governor of Alaska to write and promote a book… Isn’t election to public office a sort of obligation? People generally vote for you with the understanding that you’ll hold up your end of the deal by serving as promised. The exception is resignation in favor of a higher level of public service.

      • http://sarainitalyblog.blogspot.com/ sarainitaly

        How many times did Obama run for hire office, bailing on the people who elected him to office? I can count at least three.

  • Docelder

    By the way… how did we miss this one. Obama’s Columbia thesis… wasn’t it supposedly lost forever? ANyway somebody got to view the first ten pages of it. Wow, woulda, coulda, shoulda… all of that. Here is what Columbia student obama thinks of the constitution. Telling indictment.

    “… the Constitution allows for many things, but what it does not allow is the most revealing. The so-called Founders did not allow for economic freedom. While political freedom is supposedly a cornerstone of the document, the distribution of wealth is not even mentioned. While many believed that the new Constitution gave them liberty, it instead fitted them with the shackles of hypocrisy.”

    http://pajamasmedia.com/michaelledeen/2009/10/21/obama-and-the-constitution-he-has-his-doubts

    What of the underlying tone?

    The so-called Founders

    The “so called” founders? What contempt for these men… what contempt for this document… what contempt for this nation.

    • M

      Interesting that in New Orleans he followed this:

      “We are working as hard as we can as quickly as we can,” Mr. Obama replied. “There are all sorts of complications….I wish I could just write a check.”

      With this:

      “You say, why not? There’s this whole thing about the Constitution.”

      These lines from the thesis kind of put his remark in focus. It was not deference to the Constitution. He sees it as an obstacle to work around.

      • Docelder

        There are some people who study the law because they love the law. There are others who study it because they find the entire concept contemptuous and they wish to use the system to tie itself in knots. This is the man we now call President. This man, with this level of contempt for the “so called” founders is now in the position to appoint Supreme Court justices. How did it come to this? Surely, this marks a sharp turning point in this nations legacy.

    • James

      Obviously the document actually exists, otherwise they wouldn’t be hiding it. Which clearly proves that whatever somebody said they saw in it must really be in there.

    • Zut alors

      Except that the problem with this thesis expose is that the original article’s headline said “satire”. you know what that means right? Even the journo who supposedly saw the thesis stated this story is baloney.

      If you still believe it, I’ve got a good price on a birth certificate for you.

      • Docelder

        The hoax update link on top was not there when I linked it in. I had thought reading the dog had ate hie thesis as it were. So, plastic Jesus remains an enigma. What else is new?

    • oowawa

      Doc, there is now a link posted on that site describing this as a hoax, and as “satire.” WTF? When I write satire and sarcasm, I try to make it obvious. The paragraph attributed to Obama’s “thesis” is all too plausible. Anyway,

      http://pajamasmedia.com/michaelledeen/2009/10/23/the-obama-thesis-hoax/

    • FLDemFem

      While he was lecturing at U of Chi he questioned why the Constitution didn’t allow for reparations to the slaves. He thought there should be a Constitutional amendment to get reparations for the descendants of slaves. What I want to ask him is this..If he thinks the Constitution, and the process of governance it sets out, is such a piss-poor document, why doesn’t he move to Kenya?? I am sure Odinga would step aside for him and he can be adored by the masses, be on TV every day, and spend their money flying around making speeches, and not doing much else. I wish he would..we can’t afford him much longer.

  • curious

    Do comments made here frequently fail to show up at random, or are those that run contrary to the prevailing sentiment being selectively weeded out?

    • oowawa

      Curious: to the best of my knowledge, remarks that run “contrary to the prevailing sentiment” are not “weeded out.” This site uses an extremely aggressive and unpredictable spam filter that causes all of us great frustration, even if we express “the prevailing sentiment.”

    • http://sarainitalyblog.blogspot.com/ sarainitaly

      the spam filter automatically catches some posts. we do our best to go in often and check it, and pull out comments. I notices loooong posts, and super short ones, and ones containing swear words, or i d i o t, or lots of links get picked a lot.

      If the comment is highly offensive in nature, we do our best to pull those.

  • hc123

    Contrast this with the recent pics of Michelle O in yet another ridiculous outfit (belts go at the waist last I checked), showing kids how to jump rope and hula hoop on the White House lawn.

    Its like some bizarre 1950s flashback.

    Girls, jump rope. Boys, basketball. All they need is a talking horse. Oh wait, they have Axelrod.

    • http://sarainitalyblog.blogspot.com/ sarainitaly

      who told her that large belt over all her outfits was a “good look”?

  • Zut alors

    Another storm in a teacup from the “Obama can do nothing right” brigade.
    I think if you want an example of real sexism in an international leader, look at Sylvio Berlusconi. I assume you are also condemning him, right? I suspect this hatred still has something to do with Hillary, though.

    • hc123

      From wikipedia: A straw man argument is an informal fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent’s position.[1] To “attack a straw man” is to create the illusion of having refuted a proposition by substituting a superficially similar proposition (the “straw man”), and refuting it, without ever having actually refuted the original position.

      Please come back when you have something interesting to say.

      Thanks!

      • Zut alors

        Very nice. I assume your post relates to American Girl in Italy, who used a basketbll game to construct, yet again, an Obama is sexist post.

        • http://sarainitalyblog.blogspot.com/ sarainitaly

          well, ya see, this *issue* didn’t initiate with me. It initiated with the women in Congress who were excluded from the game, and with Savannah Guthrie from msnbc who asked Obama about the issue. And it all started because Obama has more than once held all male basketball games, and it is starting to irk the women in government.

          I merely compiled a post, detailing the sexist actions of POTUS, as outlined by others.

          Perhaps you need to direct your *hatred* elsewhere.

        • hc123

          Red Herring: A red herring is an idiom referring to a device which intends to divert the audience from the truth or an item of significance.[1] For example, in mystery fiction, an innocent party may be purposefully cast as highly suspect through emphasis or descriptive techniques; attention is drawn away from the true guilty party. While there is no such fish as a “red herring”, the term red herring refers to preserved herring. The smoking and brining process gave the fish a distinct reddish-brown colour as well as a strong odour. The term is used in Mother Goose

          Please come back when you have something to say that is not disqualified in the rules of Debate 101.

          Zut alors! you bots are dull. Where is James Gugieguelimo? At least he was creative.

  • Lynn L.

    My take on ‘’Hoops at the W.H. with POTUS” is that it wasn’t so much an exclusion of women as it was a publicity driven photo-op, as most everything is with BO, staged on a basketball court with men to frame and present him in the “coolest” most masculine light; this time, however, his showy, self-promoting display backfired, as the cast of starry-eyed sycophants usually counted on to curry his favor are now questioning his insensitivity to women. As an American woman who has voted in 12 presidential elections since 1964, I’m less offended by a men’s only event at the W.H. than I am the unremitting marketing of the presidency and first family by THIS president and THIS first family. It is unseemly. For those too young to remember many or any past modern day presidencies, this is one is not typical or usual; this presidency is deviant; it is theatre; this president does not participate in the hard work of governing; this presidency has little to do with anything the founders had in mind when they penned Article II of the Constitution.

    Article II of the U.S. Constitution charges the President to “faithfully execute” federal law, makes the President commander-in-chief of the United States armed forces, allows the President to nominate executive and judicial officers with the advice and consent of the Senate, and allows the President to grant pardons and reprieves.

    That’s it!

    • Diana L. C.

      Lynn L.

      You said it better. Exactly. Why are we watching him play basketball? When does he ever become presidential?

      • Lynn L.

        Diana, you are right. When do we ever see him sitting at his historical desk doing real work? When do we ever see him in the late hours of night laboring over legislation or toiling over decisions that affect all Americans? Never! We never see him at work.

      • IndayHill

        People did not vote for him to play around.He needs to WORK to solve the country’s problems.Sure, he likes to delegate the job to his aides so he can play.Who is to blame for America to suffer like this?

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