Obama's Got a Problem With Women, and Men Have A Problem With Obama

I personally didn't cover the "Obama has a problem with strong women" story because, well, this.

Now, if there really was a hostile environment to women, that’s terrible. But I’m just going to go out on a limb and offer the insane theory that if you had to pick the group of people most prone to complaining that they’re being ignored and disrespected, you would probably pick a bunch of Democratic political staffers, lawyers, academics, apparatchiks and wonks, no? You’re telling me that if you had gone to the staffers who were African-American, or Jewish, or gay, or not from Chicago, or some other demographic distinction, and asked them, “Does the president listen enough to you and people like yourself, or are you sometimes snubbed?” it wouldn’t be that hard to generate some tales of indignation and woe? For a bunch of these folks, their entire worldview is based upon the patriarchy and the establishment keeping them down, and they can’t suppress those instincts of victimization just because they voted for the new boss. I suspect that upon entering the White House, a lot of folks find that their egos simultaneously swell and get more fragile. Then they’re put in a high-stress environment, where any error reflects badly on the munificent Sun-King, working extraordinarily long hours, convinced that the future of the country and/or liberalism depend on every move they make. Throw in a walking harassment-lawsuit-waiting-to-happen like Rahm Emanuel in a key role of leadership and you have the single most combustible working environment since the Hindenberg.

I am perfectly willing to believe that Obama has a woman-problem. But then, the stories of woe here come from Mao-enthusiast Anita Dunn, and Christina Romer, who was very butthurt that she didn't get called on enough personally for her opinion.

You know, you've heard that complaint -- that girls in school need to be called on, because they're shy, whereas boys are aggressive and not afraid of looking foolish.

I didn't know this principle extended to 50 year old women working as senior economic advisers in the White House.

At one point does the Weepie Suzy Brigade stand on their own, without special doting by Teacher? And if they never quite do -- is that "society's" problem or their own?

There's no crying in baseball. Seriously, there's not.

By the way, Geraghty notes:

Garance Franke-Ruta, a senior editor at The Atlantic, finds Treasury Secretary Tim Geither had some harsh words for his one-time White House colleague and Council of Economic Advisers chief Christina Romer, calling her “of no value on policy issues” of “financial rescue.”

Hey, hey, Timmy, take it easy on her. It’s not like you corrected that infamous chart on how the stimulus would affect the unemployment rate.

Oh right, she was responsible for that chart.

So what we seem to have here are a bunch of Obama staffers accusing each other of uselessness and incompetence.

Can't they all be right?

Meanwhile, only 36% of men support Obama now, an all-time low for him on Gallup.

Women aren't lovin' him either, by the way:

Last week, Obama’s approval among women was 43 percent in the Gallup poll, seven points higher than his approval among men—but still only 2 points above Obama’s all-time low among women, which was 41 percent, the level it hit in the week that ended Aug. 28.

posted by Ace at 05:25 PM

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