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obama’s boy’s club – much ado about nothing?

By American Girl in Italy on October 27, 2009 at 7:45 PM in Current Affairs

This is a follow up to my earlier post, obama and the old boy’s network Tapper tackles the issue (yeah Tapper!!) and NOW speaks out.

From Jake Tapper:

We asked Terry O’Neill, the new president of the National Organization for Women, what she thought of those Democratic women and others quietly complaining about a “boy’s club” atmosphere at the White House, as exemplified by the president playing basketball earlier this month with 11 members of Congress and four Cabinet Secretaries — all men.

pic007

Jake Tapper on All the President’s Men

As the New York Times and cable news chatter looked at whether the Obama White House is too fratty yesterday, President Obama brought along a woman golf partner for the first time in his 24 golf outings as president, domestic policy adviser Melody Barnes.

Is this much ado about nothing?

O’Neill says no.

“Relationships get built in those more informal settings,” O’Neill told ABC News, “and the relationships have a huge impact on the influence an individual has. We know what happens when we segregated whether it by race or whether it by gender — you end up with 1st class citizens and you end up with 2nd class citizens.”

O’Neill told ABC News’ Mike Callahan, “we need to see the White House leading the way for desegregating the work places all around the country and it is troubling.”

It’s extremely important now especially for the president to have as many women as men in his closest circle of advisors. … If women had been at the heads of the companies on Wall Street instead of these masters of the universe then we might not be in the predicament that we’re in today.” She says the ratio “needs to be 50/50. Women are 52 percent of the voting public so obviously there needs to be 50/50 of any Cabinet.”

Interesting tid-bit from Politico:

President Barack Obama has only been in office for just over nine months, but he’s already hit the links as much as President Bush did in over two years.

CBS’ Mark Knoller — an unofficial documentarian and statistician of all things White House-related — wrote on his Twitter feed that, “Today – Obama ties Pres. Bush in the number of rounds of golf played in office: 24.

Took Bush 2 yrs & 10 months.”

Side note: This is cross posted on my blog and I got into a dialog with one of my regular visitors. He didn’t see this particular topic as an issue, and commented, in part:

I have been convinced since the beginning of his campaign, and remain unswayed otherwise until today by any single act or set of actions, that Obama is genetically and irremediably very old style Chicago party politics, and all that that implies in terms of secrecy, corruption, paranoia, old-boys you scratch my back, favoritism politics. My real worry about your objection to his playing basketball with men is that in the bigger scheme of things, it seems to be almost nitpicking compared to other, more important problems.

I wanted to share my reply, for those who might agree with him. (edited and expanded for a little more clarity):

Agreed there are perhaps bigger issues at the moment. Frankly, there are so many, it is almost exhausting to try and cover them all.

This story interested me, and I do find the old boy’s network a problem. Obama can play ball with his friends, but when he is inviting male members of Congress for fun recreational basketball and not inviting women or making equal time for the women in Congress, it is a problem – whether you think so or not.

Obama was elected to represent all Americans, and works for all Americans. How he spends his office time and recreational time is closely watched by the world. He is one of the most powerful leaders in the world. What he does, how he leads, and the examples he sets, matter.

When Obama plays 23 rounds of golf, not a woman in sight, and invites men only from the House to play hoops, THAT is old school boy time networking.

And when the guy who was labeled a feminist by MS. Magazine - calls the concern BUNK about excluding women from his outings, it raises some eyebrows. msobama4co5

And when you have a website called Feminists for Obama screaming WE WON WE WON! you have to wonder what exactly they think they won.

obama_feministlookslike

  • Ferd Berfle

    Another excellent essay, AGII. The entire question about Obama’s boy’s club being “moot”, i.e., not being open to discussion is just another way of minimizing the real and palpable misogyny that went on during the run-up to the Democratic Convention and that continued through the GE and to this very day.

    I still remember that unrepentant fratboy, Favreau and pal getting all cozy with the cardboard cut-out of HRC, probably because they couldn’t find a real, breathing date with whom they could parade around their Neanderthal magnetism. It was disgusting (and I’m a male).

    No real man finds anything worthy of such brutish behavior and I will never claim those bastards as one of my own.

  • Peggy Sue

    AGI said [and very well, I might add :0)]

    “And when you have a website called Feminists for Obama screaming WE WON WE WON! you have to wonder what exactly they think they won.”

    Which is why, AGI, I’m not interested in hearing from the so-called feminists groups who so quickly abandoned Hillary, and then joined the hit squads against Sarah Palin.

    Silly me. Here I thought women’s rights applied to all of us, regardless of political affiliation.

    Complain about the “old boy’s network?” That train already left the station.

  • Lana

    Thank you for the follow-up, AGI. Those who think this is not an issue are not getting the point. It’s not about a basketball game. It’s about access to the president. That’s huge. The good-old boys network is a very real thing, and, frankly, for a man who campaigned on equal rights to call it bunk is beyond disturbing. I can’t say that I’m surprised, though. We saw signs of his dislike for women (actually we saw huge blinking arrows and gong bells, but that’s another post) when he, at the very least, failed to call of his attack dogs in the misogynist days of the primary all the way to his playing of a victory song that included the word b*tch. I don’t know why he is constantly given a pass on this stuff. Perhaps our yardstick needs to be, “What would I say if Bush did this?”

    • Peggy Sue

      Oh, I can answer that one:

      “What would I say if Bush did this?”

      You and I and a good portion of the women in the country would be screaming bloody murder.

      Add to that the increased expectation of Dems [the party dedicated to women's issues].

      Hahahaha.

      But this single issue goes for alot of what’s being given a pass these days–by the Dems and press and certainly the Obamatrons.

      And “that” is very disturbing!

      Change we can believe in? Not even close.

  • alibe

    Hey Sweetie, quit bitchin’! I am the one. To complain is to be a racist. I just brush these whining hos off my shoulder. Change you can believe in! I am the one you have been waiting for.
    Barack 0bama

  • Clara

    99 problems and a bitch ain’t one.

    Didn’t he tell the public almost two years ago what he was like?

    • Carol

      And Obama really made up these words and sang them – yeah right!
      This is ridiculous – can you give me any other president (all male) who played any sports with women? Or socialized with them to the extent that they would with men friends?

      Only Bill Clinton had the women to the White House – and look where that wound up! The man had so little respect for women – regarded them all (those he had screwed) as nothing more than notches on his belt.

      Obama has been surrounded by women all his life – he clearly loved and respected his mother and grandmother (and NOT in the way Clinton felt about his mother – that’s another story) and his relationship with his immediate family is such that anyone would envy.

      what is it with you AGI??? this is making up the big story from nothing (as the media is wont to do every day and you all run with it) – and the result of nothing but hatred.

      • beachnan

        Oh my God, Carol-you need a wake-up call. Of course, he didn’t make up the words, but he did have the audacity to have that particular song played after one of the primaries, but certainly because it is Obama, we should give him a pass. This is the same man who threw he Grandmother under the bus, and might as well called her a racist. He showed up after she died. Oh yea, they had a real close relationship. Same thing with his own Mother. You have no idea what his relationship is with his immediate family is like, unless you want to trust every photo op as the “real story”. Maybe you would like to address the point it that Obama likes men better than he likes women. Please explain how Obama pretended to brush Hillary off his shoulders and shoes, after she annilated him in a debate. There is none so blind as those who will not see. Carol-you are definitely blind.

        • Carol

          oh please…those same old primary stories you Hillary fans are sooooo fond of. Give me a break. He never threw his grandmother under the bus for god’s sake. You really think that his telling exactly what his grandmother experienced or expressed offended her? that is the ridiculous crap that faux news spun when he made his speech on race in the primaries – his grandmother was quite aware of what her grandson was saying and was not offended. you Obama haters are so one dimensional you just don’t get it.

          there is not one word or gesture obama could make or say that you won’t spin to throw out the negative on him. rumors, lies, whatever.

          oh well, whatever keeps you guys happy – your opinions are your business. but your analysis of this person and his relationships or way of thinking is just that: ‘YOUR’ analysis and it reeks of your hatred for him, nothing more than that. why is your opinion on his gestures any more valid than my opinion on his family relationships??

          (and no you moron, I know he didn’t write the words to that stupid song – i was being sarcastic). In fact, I bet he didn’t even know it was to be played that night – but if this is what you want to believe, go ahead – I guess it feeds your hate.

          • beachnan

            Carol, I truly feel sorry for you. You remind me of me, before this past election. I would defend any Democrat no matter what they did. Thank God, I woke up. How in the world do you know if his Grandmother really didn’t mind what he said of her? If you don’t believe that everything done in a Presidential campaign is done for effect (the song) then you again need a wake up call. As far as the Hillary stories, they’re not stories, they happened. Burying your head in the sand, doesn’t change what happened. I really hadn’t decided who I was going to back in the primaries until the New Jersey debate. One of the questions put to Hillary was something like, this Obama guy is pretty likable, how does that make you feel. She was totally gracious, saying indeed that he was a likeable guy, but that she was okay herself. Obama, nose in the air, took a look around, and then stated in an arrogant manner-that she was likeable…enough. That did it for me. I saw an arrogant individual, with a very thin resume, who didn’t deserve to be on the same stage with the others, because of his lack of experience, but was there for one reason only-the color of his skin. He has done nothing since, to change my mind, in fact his behavior has only reinforced my impession from that debate. Talk about morons, you bots take the cake. You will make excuses for this man at every turn. You make excuses for his relationships, with Wright, with Rezko, with Ayers, with Auchi, with Fr. Plegher. You make excuses for his thin resume, and his lack of legislative experience. You make excuses for not making his medical and college records available for scrutiny. You make excuses for him needing a teleprompter everytime he makes a speech, or has to answer questions from the press. Do I hate him? No, I don’t hate him, but I resent the fact that he thought he was ready for prime time when he wasn’t, and I resent all the idiotic people out there who refuse to open their eyes and see him for what he is-a guy who is in a job that is way above his pay grade.

          • QueenofHearts

            He didn’t know it was to be played that night? God, you are deluded. You and your ilk are the result of the deliberate dumbing down of America. And that is why we are here.

            Here’s $250. Please buy a clue.

          • Judy L. NC

            Carol, just remember that MY vote counts as much as YOUR vote.

          • Judy L. NC

            Carol, just remember that MY vote counts just as much as YOUR vote.

      • Chelsea Patriot

        “He (Barky) clearly loved and respected his mother (Stanley Anne)…

        OMG! LMAO! That is one of the funniest things I have ever read!!

        Carol, your stupidity, while amusing to me, must be pathological to you.

  • The Real HC

    Oh ick, I had forgotten that Ms. Magazine cover. Now I have to go floss it out of my brain.

    • Tammy

      who the hell reads Ms. Magazine?

      Certainly not REAL feminists!

  • glennmcgahee

    Its the golf outings that riled this queer up too! He can’t address DADT or DOMA, “he has too much on his plate”. Must be a GIANT waffle! That and he’s still voting present on most issues.

  • terminu

    Why does gender ratio mean more than a British citizen usurping the Constitution? I don’t get this, honestly, smacking forehead with palm of hand don’t get this discussion.

  • run_dmc

    I love how people like Carol dismiss every single FACT that clearly demonstrates that Obama can barely tolerate women – the fact that he has fewer women in his cabinet and WH than even Bush, let alone Clinton, his treatment of Hilary during the campaign (“your likeable enough” is something I’ll never forget), then Palin (“lipstick on a pig!”) as well as his never once speaking out about the vicious, atrocious things his supporters said about both women publicly, his throwing abortion and contraceptive rights under the bus every chance he gets, the women and children killed in Afghanistan by drone attacks he ordered, etc. etc etc.

    But, then invests in him feelings that she can’t possibly know – “he clearly loved and respected his mother and grandmother.” There is no way Carol can really know that, and it’s not really evident from anything he’s DONE. As always, she just fantasizes that he is the ideal person despite evidence. There is literally nothing Obama can do to wake someone like Carol up to who he really is.

  • http://www.speakingminds.net/ pc

    Carol, those “same old primary stories” you dismissively mention are factual events that took place. It was a very offensive move on his part and I do not believe for one second that he did not know that song would be playing….nothing he does is impromptu. He riled up his base at the expense of Hillary and Sarah Palin and demeaned them on a personal level, which is something he did not do against his male opponents.

    By the way, 8 US soldiers died yesterday in Afghanistan while Obama is thinking of the strategy for the war he called during the campaign the “right war”.

  • Sassy

    Thanks for mentioning the troop deaths, pc!
    BO is in the weight room pumping up for some heavy lifting! What a coward!

  • Sassy

    Catchy phrase…boy’s club!
    That sums it up nicely!
    I am hopeful that we have more REAL men now than in the past.
    I nominate my husband and my son-in-law.
    Our daughter and granddaughters have benefited by being treated as equals.
    Our 6’7 son-in-law diapered, fed, bathed his babes, and has chaperoned, chauferred, every school event since.
    I love him dearly…his only flaw was being a republican, but now so am I!
    He played basketball for a national championship team, so he can take BO, and I think my granddaughter can as well for she is smarter!

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