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In early Obama White House, female staffers felt frozen out
Washington Post ^ | September 20, 2011 | Peter Wallsten and Anne E. Kornblut

Posted on 09/20/2011 3:51:55 PM PDT by neverdem

Friction about the roles of women in the Obama White House grew so intense during the first two years of the president’s tenure that he was forced to take steps to reassure senior women on his staff that he valued their presence and their input.

At a dinner in November 2009, several senior female aides complained directly to the president that men enjoyed greater access to him and often muscled them out of key policy discussions.

Those tensions prompted Obama, urged on by senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, to elevate more women into senior White House positions, recognize them more during staff meetings and increase the female presence in the upper ranks of the reelection campaign. “There were some issues early on with women feeling as though they hadn’t figured out what their role was going to be on the senior team at the White House,” Jarrett said in an interview Monday. “Most of the women hadn’t worked on the campaign, and so they didn’t have a personal relationship with the president.”

The women’s-inclusion issue in the Obama White House is featured prominently in a controversial new book to be released Tuesday, “Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington and the Education of a President,” by journalist Ron Suskind.

The book, based on more than 700 hours of interviews, including one with Obama, quotes a number of top officials describing a difficult work environment at the time for women, due largely to the dominating roles of male officials such...

--snip--

One of the most striking quotes in the book came from former White House communications director Anita Dunn , who was quoted as saying that, “this place would be in court for a hostile workplace. . . . Because it actually fit all of the classic legal requirements for a genuinely hostile workplace to women.”...

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: confidencemen; dunn; emanuel; obama; partisanmediashills; ronsuskind; summers; timgeithner
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To: DesertRhino

Communists and other Thugs look for allies in taking power. Find groups that feel slighted and then spread your virus. Women, Blacks, American Indians, Jews, etc. Divide and conquer.


21 posted on 09/20/2011 4:16:17 PM PDT by FreeAtlanta (Fight for Liberty)
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To: okie01

He is a homosexual, practicing Muslim. Butt, then a sizable portion of Islamic males are.


22 posted on 09/20/2011 4:19:26 PM PDT by FreeAtlanta (Fight for Liberty)
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To: neverdem

..if these crack reporters were on the ball they would have remembered that female campaign workers for Odumbo complained they were paid at a lower scale,.....but not the lib media,they would fondly remember having that tingly feeling in their.......lower extremities.


23 posted on 09/20/2011 4:22:13 PM PDT by Doogle ((USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand..never store a threat you should have eliminated))
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To: All

Remember this:

“Basketball is another encouraged pastime. Obama played pickup basketball on primary days for good luck, and although he has since been criticized for hosting a men-only game of basketball and rarely inviting women to play golf, the hoops ritual has carried down to the younger staff members. Their basketball schedule includes three unofficial games: one on Tuesday night at the Department of Interior; another on Sundays that includes both White House and agency staff members; and a weekend league team. “
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/magazine/02obamastaff-t.html?pagewanted=all

Long article but interesting to read now...


24 posted on 09/20/2011 4:23:16 PM PDT by Irenic
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To: forgotten man

I have worked in environments like that where the women expect and receive the same pay as a man but if something heavy needs to be moved (and something heavy can be as little as ten pounds) they look askance at anyone who even hints that a woman should not expect a man to do it for her.


25 posted on 09/20/2011 4:24:23 PM PDT by RipSawyer (Trying to reason with a liberal is like teaching algebra to a tomcat.)
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To: Doogle
..if these crack reporters were on the ball they would have remembered that female campaign workers for Odumbo complained they were paid at a lower scale,.....but not the lib media,they would fondly remember having that tingly feeling in their.......lower extremities.

They would also have reported on the horrific way in which the Obama campaigners treated the women of the Hillary campaign.

Anyone who really thought Obama respected women had his/her head in the sand. None of this is surprising.

26 posted on 09/20/2011 4:27:55 PM PDT by ohioWfan (Proud Mom of a Bronze Star winner!)
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Comment #27 Removed by Moderator

To: neverdem

My question from the picture related to the story is who put the lame ass table in the room? It’s totally trashy.


28 posted on 09/20/2011 4:31:07 PM PDT by Thebaddog (Shakey Jake said, " The hippies will never survive!")
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To: forgotten man
Oh, Obama deserves this criticism alright.

He thinks of no one except himself. What makes you think he treats (or has his lackeys treat) women well?

He's a misogynist, just like he's a racist, an elitist, and an all around creepy person.

29 posted on 09/20/2011 4:31:10 PM PDT by ohioWfan (Proud Mom of a Bronze Star winner!)
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To: concerned about politics

“Because it actually fit all of the classic legal requirements for a genuinely hostile workplace to women”

To some women any place with a man in it fits this definition.


30 posted on 09/20/2011 4:44:32 PM PDT by kearnyirish2
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To: RipSawyer

“I have worked in environments like that where the women expect and receive the same pay as a man but if something heavy needs to be moved (and something heavy can be as little as ten pounds) they look askance at anyone who even hints that a woman should not expect a man to do it for her.”

Same here; also women would be last in/first out in terms of hours worked.


31 posted on 09/20/2011 4:45:41 PM PDT by kearnyirish2
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To: neverdem
female staffers felt frozen out

Take it from me, there's nothing worse than a frigid female.......

32 posted on 09/20/2011 4:53:29 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (ui)
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To: FreeAtlanta

What ever happened to his one true love Bill Frist? I heard that was was quite the talk of “some” in the Senate? Just evil rumors...Or does anybody here know if there was something to this?


33 posted on 09/20/2011 5:02:47 PM PDT by Pigsley
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To: okie01
Just maybe, he's a practicing Muslim.

You will have it confirmed that Obama is a RADICAL MUSLIM Manchurian candidate when he votes to force Israel to withdraw to pre-1967 borders.

The destruction of Israel is every Muslim's wet dream. Obama is doing all he can to put radical Muslim's into power.

Muslim Brotherhood in power in Egypt

Al Qaeda in power in Libya. Using the US Military to help Al Qaeda gain power would be funny except eventually they will bring Muslim bombings to a mall to near you.

Maybe Americans will finally get it when their relatives are killed in America by Muslims imported by Obama.

34 posted on 09/20/2011 5:05:09 PM PDT by politicianslie (plug in RADICAL MUSLIM into Obama's idiotic actions and you can figure out his next moves)
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To: Doogle

Hmmmm....I also recall when he called a reporterette “Sweetie”, once at least, maybe twice.

How’d he get a pass on that from the Nags?


35 posted on 09/20/2011 5:07:09 PM PDT by Pigsley
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To: neverdem; All

The sort of wymyn occupying the hussein White House will always feel left out and blame men when they don’t get the least little thing they want.


36 posted on 09/20/2011 5:07:42 PM PDT by fso301
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To: neverdem

The end of the article is hilarious. Obama had dinner with everyone (he listened intently) and things are much, much better now at the White House! And a former scheduler has been promoted to Deputy Chief of Staff!

Women have never been more “empowered” (I hate that word) in the White House than under George W. Bush. And he gets no credit for it, to this day.


37 posted on 09/20/2011 5:19:45 PM PDT by Blue Ink
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To: neverdem
Romer is quoted by Suskind saying, after being excluded by Summers at a meeting, “I felt like a piece of meat.”

Pork, perhaps?


38 posted on 09/20/2011 5:36:00 PM PDT by Nonstatist
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To: okie01

“How DARE you imply he is a Muslim?!” was what I heard when using his middle name before the election.

He’s Israel’s biggest enemy in US government.

The Peas of Sh!t couldn’t be a better muslim.


39 posted on 09/20/2011 5:40:23 PM PDT by treetopsandroofs (Had FDR been GOP, there would have been no World Wars, just "The Great War" and "Roosevelt's Wars".)
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To: neverdem
>In early Obama White House, female staffers felt frozen out till they put on their burqua's. Then they warmed right up.
40 posted on 09/20/2011 6:00:17 PM PDT by rawcatslyentist (It is necessary that a person be born of a father who is a citizen; ~Vattel's Law of Nations)
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