It's being spun by some as the crumbling of a "golf glass ceiling"... which is thoroughly ridiculous, but certainly more likely to attract readers than if they'd called it... say... "a Sunday round of golf". ~ So yes...I get that.
It's also possible that there may have been a slight political agenda behind the accusations of sexism and "fostering a frat-boy atmosphere" that were directed at the Obama White House after an all-male basketball game earlier this month... but I'm not even going to speculate on that.
The fact is, Melody Barnes joined President Barack Obama and a couple of other "dudes" (that's what frat-boys call each other), for golf yesterday afternoon at the U.S. Army's Fort Belvoir course. And it was the first time the President has included a female in his foursome in... like... a year. (in which time he's played probably
Ms. Barnes is the president’s chief domestic policy adviser and considered one of the best dressed women in Washington. Back a couple of years ago when she was executive vice president for policy at the Center for American Progress, she spoke to washingtonian.com about her personal style and shoppping habits. She even admits to having once worn purple, crushed-velvet hip-hugger bell bottoms. The outfit she wore for golf yesterday was decidedly understated, a navy turtleneck and lean white trousers, she wore it well however and it would be awesome to see more of her out on the fairways and greens of the nation's capital now that she's smashed that "grass ceiling".
"POSSIBLE that there may have been a slight political agenda behind the accusations of sexism and "fostering a frat-boy atmosphere" ??
ReplyDeletePlease - is there ANY doubt that the feminists were being pissy about this just to make political hay ?
Do we even know if this woman has ever played golf before ? We know that she was the head of one of the bigger Marxist think tanks before joining Barry's team - but now she is just a token - an invitee to the foursome to shut the whiners up...until they decide they want something else.
(good god - I STILL can't believe I'm backing B.O. on an issue - but this is what you get when your party thrives on dividing people into groups)
I don't think the "feminists" had anything to do with the accusations. Unless they were feminists of a "certain strip".
ReplyDeleteI wonder if we'll ever get to see the scorecard. ;)
Dude!! I haven't played golf with a woman in three years. Never knew it but I guess I'm the frat-boy type.
ReplyDelete- I don't think that she was playing the first time- she may have sucked, but two things tell me this isn't her first time out- 1) she has her own golf bag (and it is a chick bag); 2) she isn't struggling to carry her own golf bag - on the thought that she doesn't play much> She has the raincover over her clubs.
ReplyDeleteAlso Barack has played two dozen times since he took office. Which is as much as Bush played in three years - and we used to complain about Bush spending too much time on the course.
As far as this whole frat boy thing- look my golf group is a bunch of guys/dudes. old dudes and some younger ones. We smoke, drink, fart and cuss. Am I supposed to feel bad about this behavior? Sorry, I don't. By the way, our group has 3 dozen members, and we have one chick. She does 3 of the 4 required behaviors above. She probably does the 4th one too, but only silently and not as proudly.
Ok Anon - tell us who you are...Tiger ? Stevie ? or Feherty ? (who else would admit to farting on the course like that ?) :-)
ReplyDeleteExcellent point on the number of rounds Bush played in 8 years vs 8 months for Barry. Add that to the double standard list for the media.
Sorry- with the global warming hysteria, I would prefer not to release my name otherwise Al Gore might try and stifle my farting.
ReplyDeleteAnd while, as far as I know, I can still smoke on a golf course where I am (unlike the Soviet State of San Francisco)- I would prefer to keep it quiet for that purpose as well.
Court, Bill Maher has been grousing about Obama and golf for months on HuffPo. As have others, so apparently the media has been talking about it to some degree.
ReplyDeleteIt's amusing to me, however, that the most-watched cable news channel is decidedly conservative, the most popular radio host is extremely conservative, as are the 2nd, and the 3rd most popular, yet some continue to claim the media is biased against their views.
Me, I could care less how much the President plays golf, be it Bush, Obama, Ford or Eisenhower. It's not like the duties of the office are very far -- look closely and you will see the military man with the nuclear football and a cadre of communications people and advisors. That's the same as it has been since at least Nixon, which is as far back as I can recall.
Hey - the more time he spends on the golf course is less time he spends behind the desk pencil whipping us into oblivion.
ReplyDeleteWait - the most watched cable news network is CNN - and they are FAR from conservative. Which network are you thinking about ?
"the most watched cable news network is CNN - and they are FAR from conservative."
ReplyDeleteNo, Fox is - by a mile.
Fox News has pulled off another dominant quarter, claiming the top 10 cable news programs in 3Q 2009 and growing against 3Q 2008, while CNN and MSNBC lost substantial portions of their election-boom audience.
Fox News averaged 2.25 million total viewers in prime time for the third quarter, up 2% over the previous year. That's more than CNN (946,000, down 30%) and MSNBC (788,000, down 10%) combined.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/30/fox-news-dominates-3q-200_n_304260.html
Fox isn't a cable news network - they are a regular broadcasting network. who put them in the cable news network catagory ?
ReplyDeleteFox News Channel is over the air, full time?
ReplyDeleteWhere is that?
hmm - I don't seem to get Fox News Channel. Do they deliver straight news or do they get into all the background music and flashing lights like their national news broadcasts ? I find it hard to watch the news while thinking it's coming from the Enquirer.
ReplyDelete1. Barack Obama should have played at least 35 times by mid-October. He should play as often as he wishes, or more.
ReplyDelete2. If you depend on either Fox or CNN, you are a knucklehead. Form your own opinion reading dozens of sources daily.
3. Would I rather be included in a group where I was not wanted or bemoan not being included?
4. Why would he play Belvoir when there are easily three dozen better courses closer to the White House?
5. Words that should never in included in comments on a golf post: HuffPo, glass ceiling, feminist, Marxist, farts, global warming, Al Gore, Soviet Stae, Bill Maher and Enquirer.
6. I'd pay big bucks to see Melody Barnes in "purple, crushed-velvet hip-hugger bell bottoms".
Court, for what it's worth, Fox News is a fulltime new network. For example, "The O'Reilly Factor", Glenn Beck, and Hannity are all on Fox News.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree with Vince about Barnes and bell bottoms. She's a looker!
But I guess I'm unusual in that I don't see what the big deal is about her playing golf with the President. Personally, as long as someone is enjoyable to play golf with, I really don't care whether they're male or female.
Vince - can you retype all of that...but just put #6 up 6 times ? :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks Mike - I haven't paid much attention to O'Reilly in a while, and only hear Beck on the radio once in a while. Guys like Mahr are shameful. When political talk turns into show business (on either side of the aisle), it becomes useless.
Vince-
ReplyDeleteAs far as why did they play at Belvoir- would it have anything to do with security? With access for Marine One? I would think that a golf course would be difficult to secure if there are other players on it, a lot of people carry big bags which contain objects which could cause identification of weapons difficult. Also if you closed a course, I would suppose a number of those better courses would probably have issues from their equity members.
Secondly, at least in my group of guys farts are part of the game, so I don't understand why that wouldn't be part of the comments. and farts naturally reminds us of cow farts which contribute to global warming, which leads to Al Gore. I wish it wasn't that way, but it is.
And cigars are part of the game, and I know that San Francisco isn't actually a Soviet State, but I am not sure what it is in that they have made illegal cigar smoking in an open area of approximately 150 acres on average. Clearly not a town that embraces liberty.
I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with everything Vince said. Yes, even the hip-hugger comment. Crushed purple velvet—how can anyone not be curious?
ReplyDeleteSo much to say, so little space. First, I hate the news. I watch it mainly for the weather so I can figure out when I can play golf and I pick the crummy days to tend to work and laundry.
Seriously, after rushing from Arlington, VA, into D.C. to pick up my 3-year old from preschool on 9/11, (I got there just before they turned all the roads outbound & right after smoke was reported from the Pentagon) I just can't do much news anymore.
For years after that I would have the news on at all times, ready to respond to any emergency. Talk about depressing.
Sure I watch a few minutes of "news" on the Today show to keep myself from looking like a total idiot when someone says, "Are you going to be bubbleboy for Halloween?" or "Didn't you used to live in Minneapolis, is the airport really small?"
I prefer to live in my bubble and I am much happier that way. I used to be able to recite the name of every chairman on Capitol Hill. Hell, I could give you subcommittee chairs too. Now I focus on my family and golf, of course. Maybe it makes me seem shallow, but I'm a much happier person.
But if any President of the United States is looking for a golfing gal to join them on the links. I am available.
Well Patricia, you certainly got everyone going on this one. I've been laughing & snorting reading all the comments. I so belong in the boy's club. But let's face it, Melody is a tool (or would that be toy?). I think Michelle should keep her eye on this one. (just kidding... or not)
ReplyDeleteCourtgolf had me laughing the hardest.
I often play with hubby & what I call his *geriatric boys*, who are all 75 or older. His favorite golfing group because he can most often beat them. I know. Don't judge.
I can't help but like these guys because they are so funny & they don't mind if I let an occasional F-bomb slip out.... or anything else for that matter. They probably can't hear anything anyway, so they don't mind. Hehe
;-)
Maybe Obama was just trying to hit the broad side of a Barnes.
ReplyDeleteJust kidding, folks. At ease.