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Kathleen Parker is one of America's most popular opinion columnists, addressing the country's mental health through her views on current national ...
Read more about Kathleen Parker.
Kathleen Parker is one of America's most popular opinion columnists, addressing the country's mental health through her views on current national ...
Read more about Kathleen Parker.
Jumping Through Hoops to Please Women
Kathleen Parker
WASHINGTON -- As if President Obama didn't have enough on his plate
with health care and Afghanistan, he's now faced with the problem that
can't be solved: Women.
Sorry, Mr. President, but we coulda toldja.
But no, Barack Obama courted the girls, promised them equality in all things, and now has excluded them from an all-male game of basketball.
Sorry, ladies, but we coulda toldja.
Not all women are upset, of course. Some on his estrogen-rich staff have shrugged off the faux-scandal about the now-infamous game and point to Obama's inclusion of women where it matters most.
Senior adviser Valerie Jarrett noted the several high-level female appointments, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Also, the administration boasts a 50-50 gender split among White House employees.
But a few women find the president's preference for guy company in his extracurricular life problematic. Basketball in this instance isn't only about shooting hoops; it's about access to the president. As the powder room buzz goes, Obama may as well have tacked a sign over the clubhouse door: "No girls allowed."
Just as soon as I finish this yawn, I'm going to rustle up some righteous indignation. Here goes: How dare he!
On the other hand, how dare he otherwise? Basketball is a contact sport. Wouldn't we find a presidential body brush with a congresswoman at least equally problematic? How about the likelihood that few women in the White House or Congress could play well enough to make it fun for the president? Or should we have Obama play down for the girls? Should he simply not get to play ball as president?
Life is complicated ..., but not really. Obama likes to play basketball and one can only amuse oneself alone with a ball and a hoop for so long. It is natural that he would summon a few guys to play with him. Must even a president's recreational time be politically correct?
Smack dab on center court is the elephant no one wants to acknowledge: That men and women are different; that sometimes even heterosexuals prefer same-sex company; and that, as a rule, women and men are unequal in matters physical. With rare exceptions, the gender-neutrality trope that drives much of the Democratic Party agenda is, was and ever shall be -- false.
Sad. Depressing. Frustrating. Maddening. Call it what you wish, but it is still true.
Obama's basketball game, thus, has become a convenient metaphor for an inconvenient truth. Generally speaking, guys prefer to play ball with other guys, just as women prefer to form book clubs with other women. That's not because women don't like men (and vice versa), but because when relaxing, women mostly want to drink wine together. And talk about men. I don't know what men do on the basketball court that is so compelling, but they apparently need it, and I don't.
That skittering sound you hear is the scurrying of a thousand stilettos as women scramble to blog their protest. Wait, wait, I feel another yawn coming on. Is there anything more exhausting than trying to explain the obvious?
None of what's true or obvious precludes rational approaches to fair practices or tweaks to make life more workable and pleasant. But, though we celebrate women athletes, absolute equality isn't likely until we alter the hormonal composition of the universe.
Or desirable?
Honest women will have to admit that they helped Obama become president not only because of the policies he promised, but because they rather fancied him. That famed jocularity he shares with men more than women may be cause for criticism in the Halls of Harrumph, but it's called nectar in the jungle. His guyness is his jump shot.
Not to suggest that men ever do or say anything right, but women peeved by the president's perceived masculine insularity might benefit from my father's advice when, as a young girl, I complained about life's unfairness. "Don't complain about the game," he said. "Learn the game and play it better." There's more than one way to score a point, in other words, and history has never suggested women are unclever.
If absolute parity of access to the president is essential to women's sense of well-being, perhaps they should create a bowling league of their own and invite the president to play. I hear he has a bowling alley in his house. And, if memory serves, women may expect to prevail.
========
Kathleen Parker's e-mail address is kathleenparker(at)washpost.com
Copyright 2009 Washington Post Writers Group
This news arrived on: 10/28/2009
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Posted Comments:
10-30-2009 00:02
JCE wrote:
Some people mistake what Obama is doing as chauvinism and discrimination. But think about how many places women get together, and their is no place for a man. It is that simple. Like a man would be stupid enough to want to go to tea, and feel slighted when not included. Some people just want something to attack him on. But they are unrealistic. Why make something up when there is enough for real. Women are equal, but different, and like my mom said when I asked her about womens liberation. She said, and I quote, "I feel sorry for the poor misguided fools. I was born knowing I was superior to men, the trick is to not let them know it, let them think they are in charge, and then just make the decisions." I went on to watch her prove just that. I am a gentlemen, but I know a woman is perfectly capable. I will hold the door for anyone, but take extra pleasure in doing so for a lady. Trouble is, finding a lady or a gentleman can be a problem.
JDB To further skew your illogical thought process, if men would take proper care of their families, and made enough money, women could stay at home and take care of their families. So if the 80% of the country that was Christian, just would live the way they like to believe God says they should, we would have no problems at all. After all, it works fine in the other countries who do that, like the Muslim and Jewish countries. We had a big time Christian in the white house from 00 to 08, and look at the miracles and wonders he worked for this country. Thanks Catharyne, my parents tried to raise me right. casey42, right as usual.
JDB To further skew your illogical thought process, if men would take proper care of their families, and made enough money, women could stay at home and take care of their families. So if the 80% of the country that was Christian, just would live the way they like to believe God says they should, we would have no problems at all. After all, it works fine in the other countries who do that, like the Muslim and Jewish countries. We had a big time Christian in the white house from 00 to 08, and look at the miracles and wonders he worked for this country. Thanks Catharyne, my parents tried to raise me right. casey42, right as usual.
10-29-2009 22:36
P wrote:
OBL, You are, of course, a stupid idiot (who would disagree after this posting...) Geez,(not to be insulting) you probably have a shrine to Anne Coulter in your bedroom. I do have to (against my better judgment) have to agree with you that this article was stupid and worthless (much like the Birthers, the Dittoheads, the Palinists.)America! Ya gotta love it!
10-29-2009 12:47
ObamaBinLyin wrote:
Yet another ditzy column from Kathleen Parker, who never demonstrates anything more her inexplicable physical and ideological attraction to the very unattractive Barack Obama. (Kathleen and Maureen Dowd, as well...go figure!)
10-29-2009 12:09
wrote:
This is the same old argument as you find on the golf links. Ladies were not allowed on the course when businessmen were on it. They were hitting balls and making deals and excluding women from both. That is the complaint here. Now, I honestly hate it when I have to play soft ball with kids because I am a hard player and will run you down if you don't move. Can't do that with kids. Nope. Wouldn't want to do that at all. And I can see the problem with playing basketball. Even on the links we women do not hit them as far or as fast as the guys. They just have to slow down to let us play with them. Baskeball is way too fast for the average female white house correspondent or page (oops sorry, couldn't resist) to play. Leave the guys their few privleges. Do like I do, "Go play Honey, but leave me some money, I need new shoes." Works for me. I get to run him down on the soft ball field. In my new shoes. LOL
10-29-2009 11:13
Catharyne Stauffer wrote:
Excellent post casey42 :)
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