Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Boys Club?



It seems that there's a debate going on about whether our President is a so-called "good old boy". Betcha never thought that would happen, but it has.

Obama's golf pals are all men. So are his basketball pals. I wasn't paying attention to how it all first got started, but NBC's Savanah Gregory asked him in an interview if he thought he shouldn't be playing with a co-ed group (paraphrasing heavily here). To wit, he replied that idea was quote-unquote Bunk.

Well, many talking heads weighed in and people are generally all over the place on it but a slight majority so far have agreed that it is a faux-pas on his part. The idea is that women are once again being left out of the networking circle and out of the decision-making circle. The ladies of The View mostly thought so, except for Whoopie, who just thought it was silly. (Bunk, perhaps?)

Here's my take. I actually think that Whoopie made a good point when she noted that no other President has had to have a co-ed sporting cadre to prove he's a feminist. That is true. And, I really don't have an opinion on it one way or another. To me, it's kind of a non-issue, because I'm thinking that if Obama wants you in those circles, he'll call ya and you don't have to play golf to be wanted. Which is kind of the opposite of the way the Good Old Boys did it back in the day.

According to Fox Business anchor Cheryl Casone, who appeared to debate this on The Factor, all the financial deals are being done between Good Old Boys at the strip joint and the steakhouse. At least Obama isn't hanging out at those places.

Actually my apathy about this has a lot to do with my theory that Obama is hen-pecked. Maybe that's not quite the right word (down here in the South we say 'pussy-whipped'), but what I think is that Michelle wears the pants. Most definitely. And while I generally cheer on that kind of thing among the common folk like me, in my President it's not a comforting trait. In him or her.

But let's just assume that he is pecked or whipped. Now, wouldn't he want to just get away from all that occasionally and play with the boys? Just boys? I don't see that as unreasonable. After all, and let's keep assuming that Michelle calls all the shots she can, if there are women in the group, how's he gonna explain this to her? Remember a while back when that story came out that during the campaign women kept grabbing his ass? And that Michelle gave him the silent treatment? Lord knows what would have happened had he been asking for it! I thought giving him the silent treatment for being groped was a bit much. Our First Lady might be the Jealous Type. So, how does he escape all of that, especially since he's also saving the world and all that?

That's what I think. If he wants to get away from all the women who manage his life and his politics, then I'm not going to demand that he do that with more women. I think he's kind of a joke in the situation, but I don't think he's really being a "Good Old Boy". I don't even think he talks shop on his golf outings.