Wonkette
In today’s edition of “Things That Are Impossible To Overstate, According To The News Media,” we return to that years-old question of whether Barack Obama either modestly dislikes women, or hates every single woman’s fucking guts. This was a hot topic last year when Barack Obama defeated a woman in a presidential primary, a heinous display of chauvinism. Why not crap on Susan B. Anthony’s grave and punch Lucretia Mott in the boob, while you’re at it? And now Obama has done something far worse: played various sports with coteries of men, instead of women. This is the very definition of being “pro-life.”
The New York Times‘ Mark Leibovich, usually an excellent writer/reporter, posted a long, disturbing account of the Obama administration’s overt sexism yesterday, perhaps because he was trying to show his sensitive side to the ladies. None of the top women who work in the White House — Anita Dunn, Valerie Jarrett, Jen Psaki, and others who were not interviewed (Christina Romer RULES!) — give a shit about Barack Obama playing basketball and golf with his male friends, but others… differ… somehow… what is this article even about?
One Democratic media strategist says that while Mr. Obama does place women in important roles, his comfort level with staff members is not always perceived as equal.
“There is a sense that Obama has a certain jocular familiarity with the men that he doesn’t have with the women,” said Tracy Sefl, an adviser to Mrs. Clinton’s presidential campaign who speaks regularly to some female aides in the administration.
In interviews, five women who work in the White House or advised officials there described the culture with more of a collective eye-roll than any real sense of grievance or discomfort. One junior aide, who like the other women spoke on the condition of anonymity because of concerns about appearing publicly critical, said that the “sports-fan thing at the White House” could become “annoying” and that her relative indifference to athletics could be mildly alienating. And while this is not uncommon in any workplace, sports bonding can afford a point of entree with the boss.
Did you carefully read what the ex-adviser to Hillary Clinton and the anonymous female junior aide said?? Damning! Obama must stop liking or playing sports, which no women enjoy ever. Of course, he’ll never do it, and god forbid the rest of the MSM criticize “The One” for this.
Jake Tapper with the foxtrotting follow-up, just to be thorough:
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.
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.
No, indeed. This is more ado than (unemployment + pig AIDS)^(two lost wars) combined. More ladies, on more golf trips, or Obama will be forced to show… his birth certificate? Is that what the controversy was here? It’s all a jumble.
Man’s World at White House [NYT]
Pledging Beta Omega? [ABC News]
As wonderful markknoller puts it:
# If Hillary Clinton were president & she played golf or tennis with women friends and aides, would there be reports of discrimination?about 2 hours ago from web
# Just asking because a colleague of mine took offense that only yesterday did Obama invite a woman to join his golf outing.about 2 hours ago from web
- Obama plays 24 rounds of golf– more than George W. Bush
- Obama plays basketball with men more than women
Next story: Is Obama playing baseball with ACORN?
Stupid nazi-fascist-socialist-liberal president! stop being so sexist too!
What is it about a guy who was raised by his grandmother, spends his free time with his wife, 2 daughters and his mother-in-law and he doesn’t want women playing golf with him?
George Bush was always seen bicycling with women as well as asking them to clear brush with him.
Everything would be resolved if only he held a few “jocularly familiar” conversations with the female members of his team about shopping.
I think Jake Tapper’s throwing a hissy fit because he’s not invited and doubtful he ever will be.
Not many folks I know like to play b-ball and/or golf with the opposite sex.
Barack Obama is Don Draper the end.
I get the impression that Michelle would be easily angered by her husband saying more than two words to another woman.
“Honey, I HAVE to talk to her everyday, she’s the Secretary of State. Honey, put the vase down…Darling, love of my life PLEASE put the vase DOWN!!!”
To be fair, he invited women to golf with him several times. But they got lost on the way to the course because, you know, women can’t follow directions or read maps.
Yeah, but imagine how you men would feel if the boss (woman) was constantly consulting her subordinates (your peers) on matters like knitting sweaters for someone’s new baby, or getting rid of the itch. All that extra face time, and things-we-have-in-common could be unsettling. Bringing up your problems with jock itch just to be part of the club would be a ” -1″ for you.
Does he ever have SEX with women? who even knows
Jake Tapper is the doof who considers Fox Noise to be a “Sister News Network” and was highly offended that the Obama Administration was not paying daily obedience to Murdock and crew.
So much for his opinions on anything.
Well, this is certainly a teachable moment, no?
Mr. President, the American people demand that you invite Michelle Bachmann to the White House for a game of curling!
NOW, can’t you busy yourself throwing a womyn’s symposium on David Letterman that people could be ignoring right now?
can something done in a suit and tie be a sport?
What’s even worse, is that on one of the few occasions Obama does play basketball with women, he beats them. Unforgivable.
Of course, he only won because he made all the women wear skirts. No wonder they were playing “Pig.”
user-of-owls: Better. Challenging Michelle Malkin to a round of ping pong.
They gotta track down those whiny bitches who were the sources for this and fire their fucking asses.
Hey baby! Who’s your caddy? Or do you handle those long irons and woods all by your sexy little self?
Dear Second-Wave Feminism,
Stop being silly.
Love, Doxastic.
From the dark, dank Corner:
In Defense of NOW [Jonah Goldberg]
Kathryn - While I think remedies will probably be worse than the problem, I think NOW has a point. A lot of male bonding in Washington and elsewhere happens on the golf course, on the basketball court and at poker games. Men who aren’t invited to play with the boss understand that just fine. If there’s a de facto policy of excluding women from those get-togethers some women will pay a price. Certainly it’s a fair truism that access to the boss is pretty valuable.
Bush Was Right!
The administration women aren’t worried about Obama’s all-male basketball games — it gives them an opportunity to go throughout the White House and put all the toilet seats down.
I was baffled with the media’s golf obsession today until I checked the Official 2009 Journalists’ Calendar:
October 16: It Don’t Mean a Thing if You Ain’t Got That Swing Day
Huffpo, TMZ, Drudge, Twatter, Facebook, and Skoalrebel’s youtube page = new Edward R. Murrow
It may look like I’m instantiating a C++ or java object but I’m not. I’m crying inside.
This is shocking. If you interviewed five women in any other workplace in America, surely they would fail to report any hint of sexism.
Brought my wife out on the links last weekend, just to wash my balls.
dave666: Chess. Sportsy guys like chess, right? Maybe women like chess too. There you go Barack - have fun with your new hobby: chess.
To make things even he should take all his female co-workers to Toys in Babeland for an evening of Sexual Self-Determination Seminars, free lube and autographed giant latex schlongs.
This is the beautiful thing about sex in the workplace. You can shtup your boss for a promotion, keep it a secret, everybody wins with no one being the wiser.
doxastic: I’d be happy if they’d just fucking retire and let the rest of us who are still fucking adjuncting have their fucking jobs already. Who needs another psychoanalytic reading of King Fucking Lear, lady?
/rant
Oh good god. This is so stupid. If he wants to hang out with the boys and spit and cuss, let him. Plus, being photographed with women OTHER than your wife in casual, fun settings is just asking for trouble.
Additionally, most women that I know have 14-zillion things they’d rather be doing with five extra hours on the weekend, other than hitting a stupid ball with a stupid stick, while wearing ugly clothes.
Not that I’ve had this discussion before.
Captain Kirk used to sign Yeoman Rand’s clipboard but he never engaged in extended banter with her the way he did with Bones or Spock but Captain Kirk had more women than all these DC reporters put together. Was Captain Kirk anti-woman?! These reporters live in a fantasy world.
chascates: Jonah Goldberg as a source familiar with male bonding rituals? Maybe ones that involve rolling polyhedral dice, but beyond that?
Who wants to bet Barry doesn’t iron his shirts either.
Hey, this is even worse than reported. I not only do not have a White House job, but also I have never been invited to play golf with the President. And neither have any of my friends or immediate family. There must be something illegal about this, right?
I’m not pointing any fingers, but I will point a finger at Hilary’s urinal cake fetish being at the heart of this problem.
the ‘no cigar smoking rule’ for women playing poker just bit them in the ass.
If he played basketball with women, they would call him a girlie-man. He plays with men, as one would expect — and they call him sexist. But what woman would want to bump up against Obama, and check him and stuff, guard him, stuff like that, get all in his sweat — ah.. umm.. never mind.
You know who ELSE Obama hasn’t golfed with?!
To be fair, Obama did invite the ladies of the office to join the game of pick-up basketball, but none of them was willing to wear the cheerleader outfit. (Wacka Wacka!)
Maybe I’m still shell shocked from the last go round, Madame advisor to Mrs. Clinton, but I find the “news” that the President spends his free time hanging out with guys less than troubling. Tell me he’s taken over interviewing the interns and I’ll start to worry.
queeraselvis v 2.0: Malkin’s back alley circus acrobat vagina would give her a decided advantage, as Barry would undoubtedly have to rent one from behind the counter, and we all know how poorly those fit.
Lord.
Ask Bill Clinton if it’s a good idea for Barry to pal around with feminists.
Hey, remember that time we (well…Republicans in Congress) almost impeached the President because he got a blowjob from one of his office ladies? THIS IS SO MUCH WORSE.
Sharkey: That’s a beautiful thought but no girls don’t like chess. No. In the Steve McQueen version of “The Thomas Crown Affair” the Faye Dunaway only played chess with McQueen’s character so she could finger her dress by her breasts. I think it was what zoologists call “presenting.” So if anyone gets a chance to play Meghan McCain at chess don’t expect an interesting test of the King’s Pawn against the Caro-Kann but you might be presented with an interesting time nonetheless.
Into whose pants is Jim Newell trying to get?
Passing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay act was just meant to distract us from how much he hates women.
Why are these women working outside the home anyway?
IMPEACH.
bitchincamaro: Talk about jocular familiarity!
THYE BIBLE CLEERLY TEECHES THAT WIMMIN SHOULLD BE DEFERENCHULL TO MEN ALSO TO.
Well, come on people. It would be unladylike for women to play sports. Plus, it might be *that* time of the month, not to mention the known true fact that they get crotch-rot if they are soldiers.
So no golf with the President, shuh.
Well, you know who else didn’t play basketball with women? That’s right, Hitler. Also Stalin, Mao, and the Devil.
Humpback: I can’t make the same claim. Yeah my sis-in-law was invited to play golf with the president - but it was Clinton then. He didn’t get none as she is a lesbian.
Sounds a little bit snarky but is true. I have a snarky life or something.
What I’d like to know is how do any of these “offended” people who are writing about it know when/if/how the WH has asked anyone to participate? I think they are all jealous they weren’t asked to go bowling with Obama! I guess he’d be “insensitive” if he DID ask some woman who hates sports.
I think the problem here is a lack of lesbians in the White House.
On a related note, gay men are just as likely as straight women to roll their eyes about the “how bout dem Bears” talk.
Uh, it’s obvious what’s going on here: Michelle had a “keep yo eyeballs on the ground and your hands at your sides around my man” meeting with all the female staffers on Jan 21, 2009. Y’all know how female staffers are, *wink wink* amirite!
Can the MSM please abandon the “one Democratic [or Republican] strategist” ruse as a way to vent their own opinions? Everybody’s a strategist. Nobody’s a strategist. In this case the writer should have said, “One angry Bitter told me…”
In order to squelch this controversy, Barry will have to start playing with himself — or the dog.
chascates: So a de facto policy of excluding women calls for a de facto policy of inclusion! I heart affirmative action too, Jonah!
Obviously this story was leaked intentionally by the White House, to make Barry out to be a manly-man Teddy Roosevelt type, not an arugula eating pantywaist appeaser love child of Neville Chamberlain and Jimmy Carter.
user-of-owls: Barbara Bush?
WideStance: FUCKIN’ INPEACH!
Look everybody, more guys with shit for facial hair.
And theyz thinkin’, yeah, the only time we had coloreds on our courses were to tote our shafts.
“. . .five women who work in the White House or advised officials there described the culture with more of a collective eye-roll than any real sense of grievance or discomfort.”
Clear indictment. I am shocked, shocked I tell you.
geminisunmars: five women who work in the White House or advised officials there
So, the story’s based on interviews with a female WH janitor, two hair stylists, an accountant and a tarot card reader.
COULD WE PLEEEEZE GET A BETTER MEDIA????
thank you.
and there are plenty of guys who wouldn’t have minded some hula-hooping with michelle, amiright?
Jake Tapper is the same guy who stood up for Faux News….what a surprise.
shadowMark: Umm…Yeoman Rand positively bathed in the good captain’s…um…attention.
Doesn’t every woman who works with men roll their eyes a lot? The unfunny jokes, the pointless sports drivel, the fragile egos, the groveling at the boss’s feet? If you’re a guy reading this–sorry, I don’t mean you of course, I’m sure you’re very important and very fascinating.
I for one prefer that previous president who played with women and cigars.
Humpback: Word has gotten around that the Humpbacks are all al-Qaeda.
Even a NYT reporter can experience a slow news week — and now we have the evidence. All the named sources are Clinton sour grapers and the alleged Obama Administration “eye rollers” aren’t named — amazing that the desk, however short handed, let the story pass. These stories tend to result from a combo of slow news and some ditz editor giving a pep talk about how coverage of Obama has been too “one-sided” and “more critical stories are needed.” This editor’s logic supposes that all Presidential actions are morally neutral and only the media coverage of them gives them a positive or negative value — which is no logic at all. After Bush’s stupidity and Cheney’s venality, how couldn’t the new administration look better?
Mahousu: Yeah, well, in addition to sportin’ in skirts, those U Conn girls were hobbling around in high-heels they didn’t look accustomed to wearing. It was too funny (and cute!).
Back to “the story”: You know what’s really sad? Perry Bacon at the WaPo also thinks this “issue” is important! Augghhghhgh.
V572625694: It’s like the Fox News version.
“Is the President a kitten-raper? Some in Washington say so.”
YOU say so, Fox News.
BlueStateLibtard: My office is pretty much split down the middle, gender-wise, and yet I am the only one here who does not know or care about sports. The women here are as obsessed as the men, and as far as I can tell, none of them are raging lesbos or anything.
Which, yes, was kind of disappointing to figure out.
Well, now he’s finally invited a woman along to play golf.
But she’s black, so it doesn’t count.
ForTheTurnstiles:
HA-ha…you have a Lesbian Critical Theory professor where you work!
So… now they’re upset that the President is NOT having extramarital sex?
This is good news… for Bill Clinton!
taylormattd: No no, Mr. Gingrich clarified that — they’re merely cyclical “infections”.
I have thrown out used condoms that are a thousand times more intelligent, insightful and socially relevant than Jake fucking Tapper.
That. Is. All.
user-of-owls: Nothing Hitler liked more than a round of golf with the clubs Himmler gave him made exclusively from the bones of Jews, really tall Jews.
I guess this means that Obama is not only a radical Muslim, America-hating, Socialist Fascist Kenyan, but a radical Muslim, America-hating, Socialist Kenyan sexist. Will his tyranny of evil ever end?
I understand that women aren’t allowed to use the White House urinals either. And Bo is a male dog.
This was a great article, hey try http://www.phinditt.com/ to post free ads
Since when did wingnuts listen to what women have to say about sexism? Jesus titty bees, they hate that Hussein enough to listen to FEMINISTS in order to dig up dirt on the guy.
chascates: “# If Hillary Clinton were president & she played golf or tennis with women friends and aides, would there be reports of discrimination?about 2 hours ago from web”
No; she’d just get called a lesbian every single day of her administration like every other single day of her life. Bad example, dude; bad example.
As penance, Obama sends Rahmbo, Axelrod, Gibbs, Reggie Love, and Orzag to all the home Mystics game in 2010…REPRESENT!
“. . .five women who work in the White House or advised officials there described the culture with more of a collective eye-roll than any real sense of grievance or discomfort.”
They were rolling their eyes at the question. And they are now rolling on the floor laughing at this stupid ass reporter.
AnnieGetYourFun: Reminds me of an ancient Bloom County cartoon where Milo, wearing his reporter hat, is interviewing Senator Bedfellow.
Milo: Senator, people are saying you play with nude Barbie dolls.
SB: Who’s saying that?!?
Milo: I dunno. I sure am.
SB (to world at large): IS ANYBODY SAYING THAT?
Milo: Senator, people are saying your wife rides with bikers…
Damn, that was 20 years ago. Damn.
free online classifieds: Not cool. Hey Wonketteers, this is spam…do not click the clicky. Free online classified ads is exactly what is says it is. Can we get a swift banhammer here?
GOLF - Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden…I think it was because of the language used in Scotland, all those “ch’s” and “fh’s” and “arrrr’s”….
ATTENTION GLENN BECK: Barack Obama punches ladies in the ovaries…with OnStar.
I love articles where even the quotes from your ~anonymous tipsters~ completely debunk your hugely exaggerated point.
“It’s more just annoying”, says one aide, but what she doesn’t know is that ‘annoying’ is on par with ‘disenfranchisement’.
uptop: Would you want somebody with those toned arms aiming a vase or frying pan at you?
Huh. Nobody complained about Dick Cheney duck hunting with only guys. I think women should have had the opportunity to be shot in the face, too.
Potater: Excellent point. You can practically hear them scrabbling around desperately, even in what they consider dung, to find something, anything, puhleze lord, let me find something to slam Obamer with. I wish we could just laugh them off, like they deserve, and turn our attention to real issues, but they have shown that we need to be vigilant against their slanders. Even the ludicrous ones. (They are all ludicrous, now that I think about it - from “dithering” to “thesis-gate”, just this week alone. God, I’m tired.)
bozofish: dead on.
If he did socialize more with the ladies in his administration, this would be an article about how that horndog negro is after our white women.
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yeah. i can feel obama on this one. i mean he was heart broken when he wasn’t allowed to perform his personal very moving slam poetry at the michigan womyns music festival.
what a non-story. sorry.