Does President Obama have a woman problem?

[szh]

And, no, it is not what you think I am implying.

http://swampland.time.com/2011/09/21/th ... tter-daily

He has more women on staff than President Bush did, but not in the right positions of authority.

Interesting read.

Z

[mattblancarte]

What a load of crap. So a few women have been burned in meetings with some of the most powerful people in the country... Big whoop.

How can we even take this article remotely seriously? It's a bunch of hearsay and office politics.

When asked in an NBC interview about concerns regarding the boys-only basketball games, Obama called them “bunk” and added, “I don’t think it sends any kind of message or signal whatsoever.” The Tuesday Washington Post story cites an official who says Obama initially discounted complaints about the tough climate for women because that’s just what happens in a highly-competitive workplace. That response matches Obama’s reputation for having little patience with personal gripes and intra-office squabbles.

Even at the dinner pushed for by top female staffers so they could air their grievances directly with Obama, his reaction–as told by Suskind–amounted to an apologetic shrug. The men who cut their female colleagues out of meetings and decision-making were his friends and closest advisers. He needed them, and didn’t seem inclined to rein them in. The unspoken message: toughen up and deal with it.

I agree, Mr. President.

[IBCoupe]

The theme of the article appears to be: "President Obama has as much a woman problem as every employer in the United States." Repetitive language tends to bug me, so I picked up on her repeated invocation of the familiarity of these issues for professional women.

It read like Amy Sullivan was out there asking for affirmation more than it felt like legitimate analysis.