Althouse: Obama's female trouble.

September 28, 2011

Obama's female trouble.

ADDED: Here, I extract a 2-minute clip in which I question what makes a man a man's man and refer to "Dreams From My Father" as "personal journaling."

61 comments:

Fred4Pres said...: Amy Sullivan is a lot more attractive than Andrew Sullivan. I suspect even Titus would agree.; 9/28/11, 6:57 PM
Bayoneteer said...: Jeez Ann. Did you drink a 44oz. cola and then two expressos first? I'm half way through and you never let Sullivan get a word in.; 9/28/11, 7:02 PM
Ann Althouse said...: @KenK Oh, bullshit. Be scientific. Count the minutes and keep track of interruptions. You're showing your bias.; 9/28/11, 7:05 PM
mesquito said...: OK. I'll put it on my mp3 player, but this chick better not be as retarded as the that chick from Slate.; 9/28/11, 7:08 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: Obama's got female troubles? There are over the counter antibiotics that take care of that sort of thing.; 9/28/11, 7:09 PM
edutcher said...: Interesting you associate a husky, muscular physique with manliness, but not a leaner type.

I'm thinking a Sean Connery here, or someone more wiry than that even, say Gary Cooper.

The metrosexuality is more about manner than physique, although you brought that up, too.

KenK said...

Jeez Ann. Did you drink a 44oz. cola and then two expressos first? I'm half way through and you never let Sullivan get a word in.

I think this might have been a new experience for Ms Sullivan. She looked a little shy.

Maybe the long, lean face gives that impression.

(not saying she's unattractive)

PS The new semester agrees with you.; 9/28/11, 7:10 PM
Titus said...: I was going to say Amy Sullivan is kind of hot. Love her hair. Could you imagine it flying all over the place during passionate love making?

As for Andrew Sullivan, not hot.

The sad thing was that I knew Andrew Sullivan in the 90's when he was living in Cambridge, and he was then hot, but a total fucking bitch.; 9/28/11, 7:11 PM
Titus said...: I love the movie Female Trouble by John Waters.; 9/28/11, 7:11 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "I love the movie Female Trouble by John Waters."

Yes, do you think Amy appreciated my allusion?; 9/28/11, 7:14 PM
Titus said...: I don't Althouse.

I miss Divine.

At least we still have the Divine Miss A.; 9/28/11, 7:15 PM
bagoh20 said...: If this Administration wants just male input, that Obama's call. If women don't like it, then vote him out - you're the ones who voted him in, and I think that was a lot of identity politics too, so live by the identity sword - die by frustration and failure.

You're the majority - take responsibility ladies.; 9/28/11, 7:27 PM
Writ Small said...: No mention of the female and dominance issues on the Wisc. supreme court. A missed opportunity, but I suppose that story is old news.

Very nice performance by Ann. It's useful to see these discussions as views implied by her selected blog posts become blazingly clear.; 9/28/11, 7:31 PM
chickelit said...: I'm have trouble taking your concerns seriously.; 9/28/11, 7:33 PM
Jason (the commenter) said...: Althouse: "I love the movie Female Trouble by John Waters."

Yes, do you think Amy appreciated my allusion?

She giggles! But that movie... it's practically prescient.; 9/28/11, 7:36 PM
Jason (the commenter) said...: chickenlittle: I'm have trouble taking your concerns seriously.

Perhaps the women are the ones with the problem, not Obama. The President is how he is, and the women around him seem to just lay back and take it.; 9/28/11, 7:39 PM
bagoh20 said...: I can't believe that you ladies don't understand why men don't want women around when they are trying to relax and have competitive fun. It's basic biology, and culture both old and new. It's something women used to understand almost innately. It takes a university to educate something like that out of you - to wash your brain of common sense.; 9/28/11, 7:43 PM
bagoh20 said...: The vast majority of my close friends are women, and even I need to get away from them for stuff like that.; 9/28/11, 7:45 PM
Moose said...: It dawns on Amy that the Obama presidency is about - dicks.; 9/28/11, 7:46 PM
bagoh20 said...: First I'll catch him, then I'll change him. Obama the boyfriend indeed.; 9/28/11, 7:46 PM
pm317 said...: Ann, while I agree that women should learn to fend for themselves and all that, it makes me sick the way you give your 'boyfriend' Obama a pass on this thing. It is not that Rahm or Summers would voluntarily make way for a woman, it is that Obama was not interested in giving his female advisers opportunities as much as he did with his male advisers. It should have been in his power to give the women the access and the opportunity. The fact that he didn't do that however you psychoanalyze it, is a problem. Lack of leadership and pure incompetence are what it is -- who cares about his upbringing and his disdain for strong women. You set a low bar for him just as you chastise the women to do more.; 9/28/11, 7:48 PM
Moose said...: A "wad" is a piece of cloth put into the musket barrel before the musket ball. Seals the barrel behind the musket ball to improve the velocity of the projectile.

Just sayin'; 9/28/11, 7:49 PM
Jon Lanctot said...: When you're introverted but your identity is constructed externally--you rely on the constant reassurance of other people to know who you are--you tend to build a narcissistic personality. Your interactions with the world are shaped by one question: "what does this mean to/for me?" When you want to be an alpha male but have no internal identity, you develop compensating mechanisms to "keep up" with the rest of the pack. You learn to "play the game" with other alpha males who are more natural.

If you look at any kind of "pick-up artist" literature, you find a pervasive and casual sexism against women: women are objects to be used for your own pleasure, enjoy being told what to do, and are valued only for their sexual prowess. Pick-up artists pass on this very objectified view of women to "future" alpha males. Looking at this, it's not too hard to see why "learned" alpha males, who have no natural inclination, have a difficult time understanding social graces between men and women, especially when these rules are often contradictory.

As for how the President got to this point? Well, that's a question he can't answer for himself. That's part of his problem.; 9/28/11, 7:54 PM
bagoh20 said...: Yes Ann, I believe the "shoot your wad" phrase describes what happens when you have powder and wad in the barrel, but no amo (ball) left. But I don't think Obama or anyone else thinks of it that way anymore. I think almost everyone hears the sexual connotation now days - meaning your done, nothing left. I would never use that phrase in a business situation in front of women. It's just crude.

WV: "splam"; 9/28/11, 7:59 PM
Jason (the commenter) said...: If I had a job where no one was paying attention to my ideas, I'd look for work elsewhere.

But I'm a strong person.

Leaking negative stories is going to cause embarresmant, but it isn't going to solve the problem.

I even feel sorry for the people who DON'T complain openly, who don't bitch. In reality though, moving on is the best you can do.; 9/28/11, 7:59 PM
Cedarford said...: Fred4Pres said...
Amy Sullivan is a lot more attractive than Andrew Sullivan. I suspect even Titus would agree.
===============
Excellent point. But I accuse you of sexism.
If Amy Sullivan had been 400 lbs and with bad teeth, ratty hair and warty with squashed nose and qivering big jowls...would the beauty of Althouse alone sufficed to keep you watching?

This election, I expect more women and independents in the Republican column. THe stories of Obama's "boys club" may be a minor factor.
Bigger ones:

1. Women and independents have pretty much abandoned Obama as capable of dealing with big problems. In 2008, they had a known quality, McCain, who seemed incoherent and who was around voting when the whole economic mess started.
Obama at least offered the possibility he and his people could fix things no one believed McCain had the capacity for..

2. Sarah Palin and the social values extremists drove people away. This election, unless the Fundies take control of the nomination - those people take a back seat to the economy.

3. John McCain was among the last of the Neocons, wanting us to put troops in Georgia to face the Russians, more wars of liberation and adventure like "war with Iran for helping Our Special Friend". Women and idependents had sickened of endless war that did not serve vital American interests. Save Santorum and Bachmann, necon candidates are absent this time.; 9/28/11, 8:03 PM
Jason (the commenter) said...: Sullivan is trying to psychoanalyze Obama's relationship with his mother. He lived in Indonesia! Is it that hard to imagine he might have picked up an Indonesian view of women, from the people he interacted with every day?; 9/28/11, 8:03 PM
Carol_Herman said...: Anita Dunn! The woman whose tongue was so long, she couldn't really keep it all in her mouth. So when she spoke it would slobber forward!

I can see why she wasn't successful sitting on obama's couch!

I also know why Pelosi has been sent to the dog house by obama!

You see, in the beginning, he was inexperienced. He then found all the bad publicity he got was turning his hair on his head grey.

While Rahm Emanuel no longer does high kicks as the Chief of Staff. David Axelrod is gone.

So, I guess the women figured those two men were just chopped liver?

You know, I don't think obama comes across as a bad man.

I think being threatened by a bunch of weaselly women won't amount to a hill of beans.

Maybe, obama just learned the harry truman lesson? In DC when you want love, you make sure you have a dog.

What obama has to learn, though, is to allow his dog to sit on his lap.

That obama's gonna come out okay in his re-election bid? Even gypsy women can't predict the future.

But sometimes a woman can make believe she can read the tea leaves?

Doubt Amy Sullivan can talk for all women voters ... Let alone a broad spectrum of race and color.

It's a good thing that we can keep secret whom we vote for. Lots of women learn early in life they don't want their relationships torn asunder by a political mis-remark. (Or a secretary.); 9/28/11, 8:04 PM
bagoh20 said...: "Save Santorum and Bachmann, necon candidates are absent this time."

Yea, but the Dems are running one.; 9/28/11, 8:08 PM
traditionalguy said...: Obama is playing the role of our Big Man who makes all necessary decisions and speaks with total confidence in himself. He is smart enough to delegate the dilemma choices.

That role playing has required a sublimation of his masculine sexual side into a sexual relationship directed only at his audience.

He thinks this act is so superior and it will never lose an election...how could it?

Women are only stage set scenery in his play. They are expendable.

But then so are the male cast members, unless they bring him huge gifts of cash.

His libido's targets are Wall street Investment Banks, digital Communications ventures, and energy field investments which are naturals because they survive or fail at Government whim, so that Obama expects to get his cut of the money like the ChiTown Dems always get.; 9/28/11, 8:09 PM
Moose said...: Thank god we hear incessantly about Palin's uterus...; 9/28/11, 8:18 PM
Lucius said...: The instant I saw this my brain cued the Imperial March from "The Empire Strikes Back."

I was gonna watch "Goldfinger" tonight but I guess that can wait . . . .; 9/28/11, 8:27 PM
chickelit said...: Just putting my prediction here for the upcoming Chemistry Nobel Prize: Carl Djerassi, co-inventor of the Pill, and who also had much to say on the feminization of men.; 9/28/11, 8:28 PM
ricpic said...: This whole psycho-history thing is maddening. And the reason it's maddening is that EVERYONE has, or at least can be imputed to have had, mommy issues, daddy issues, sibling issues, issues with past traumatic experiences, etc. etc. Obama can be analyzed as to what drives him psychologically. But so can Reagan. And yet all this delving into each man's kishkes proves nothing. All we have to work with, to try to come to some understanding of, are their ACTS. And nothing about either man's internal mishigas explains anything about their external acts. Only the external acts count because only the external acts have any effect on us, on the world. That's all you can work with when analyzing a public figure: his acts.; 9/28/11, 8:30 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Devine reminds me of Newt Gingrich.

Merry Christmas Titus; 9/28/11, 8:30 PM
m stone said...: This whole psycho-history thing is maddening. ...Only the external acts count because only the external acts have any effect on us, on the world.

Well said...all of it ricpic. This diavblog seems a waste to me. It all comes down to the "club" atmosphere, be it male or female. I've seen both. Obama has favorites.; 9/28/11, 8:52 PM
Kirby Olson said...: You should have a dialogue with Obamagirl.; 9/28/11, 8:53 PM
MayBee said...: Jason- I don't think his Grandpa was any peach, either. Obama lived in Indonesia and then came home to a guy who called his wife a racist when a black guy bothered her at the bus stop.; 9/28/11, 8:58 PM
MayBee said...: The true white privilege male is when you are criticized or ignored, you know it is because of *you* and not your gender or color. It forces you to evaluate yourself, rather than allow yourself to lazily assume the other person needs fixing.; 9/28/11, 9:03 PM
Anonymous said...: "Yes, do you think Amy appreciated my allusion?"

Hard to tell. I wouldn't be surprised if she doesn't appreciate the brilliance of John Waters.

"Who wants to die for art!?!"; 9/28/11, 9:21 PM
Sal said...: Everyone knows how sexist black males are, right? I mean, like, duh!; 9/28/11, 9:26 PM
madAsHell said...: I have a 4head. Sullivan has a 5head...maybe a 5.5 or a 6 head.

How quickly Obama has fallen. Here's some wind-bag from Time magazine saying that he doesn't understand wimyn.

This is a One-n-Done president. History will not be kind.....but it was the rational choice!!

KenK...nice work! You managed an "Oh, bullshit" from the professor. We all need to aspire to KenK's level!! You biased son-of-a-bitch!!; 9/28/11, 9:27 PM
KCFleming said...: Woman is the nagger of the world.; 9/28/11, 10:00 PM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 9/28/11, 10:26 PM
Anonymous said...: Wait, wait, you all. The POTUS Obama will get all women voters. I know several women and minority voters. They all have pledged to vote for him. In fact, my ex GF (who is in the GOP) is thinking of voting for him; she loathes Perry and Romney. The bottom line: No one will vote for the GOP when they have the choice to vote for the POTUS Obama. At the K-street shindigs, you will be surprised how many consultants are women and how many are totally excited about all things POTUS. I saw one reporter the other day at the Oval Room, and she was going on and on about the WH interactions. I was surprised as the topic was GOP. The thing is that no one is interested in the GOP. It will only get worse and worse as Nov. 2012 arrives. So, there is no female trouble or women problem. Okay?; 9/28/11, 10:30 PM
Beta Rube said...: It's hard to believe Politico has an ex with that kind of charm and relevance.

P.S.: I know a black guy who is voting Republican, so I guess that means the Repubs are getting all the black votes now.; 9/28/11, 11:18 PM
chickelit said...: Pogo said...Woman is the nagger of the world.

He should have known--he was yoked to Ono.; 9/28/11, 11:19 PM
Rick said...: Many years ago I recruited a very able law student from a top 10 national law school, who had been kicked of the merit-based law review because he refused to do any cite-checking, saying that it was "women's work."; 9/28/11, 11:55 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: I really do not have all that much compassion for those women.

One of the things that I discovered about the practice of law is that anything goes, as long as you don't get caught at it.

So, I know one guy who has scared the other party into settling in his favor by cornering them in an empty elevator, stopping it, and threatening to have his balls, and another, that if he doesn't settle, he can expect to be buried somewhere in the desert.

Most women can be cowed by a a MCP (Male Chauvinist Pig for those too young to remember) to them. So, the same guy who will yell at women in order to get them to break down, may be the perfect gentleman when alone with a woman romantically. It is not that he is a MCP, really, but, rather, that he has found that being one with a lot of women wins cases.

What those women did not understand is that their silly feminist rules did not apply. The only rule that applied was that the person, man or woman, who got the President's ear the most, won. Nothing else mattered. They were trying to import girl-world norms and rules into the ultimate boy-world, and were destined to failure.; 9/29/11, 3:03 AM
viator said...: Well, the left has always had a woman problem. It managed to rebirth a new movement which started out as a reaction to the male chauvinist pigs in the new left.

But what explains Palin's woman problem?; 9/29/11, 8:34 AM
rhhardin said...: Women love problems.

For each, the suggested solution is men changing.

This works on lovers but not in general. Men in general are baffled, first of all why it's a problem and second of all why it's interesting.

That doesn't affect women's attraction to the problems.

Probably men changing is the attraction.

Maybe it's women's quest-sending gene that keeps them interested.; 9/29/11, 8:35 AM
rhhardin said...: Why isn't it menstrogen rather than estrogen, by the way.; 9/29/11, 8:37 AM
jr565 said...: Maybe females have work trouble. Meaning, they can't hack it in the work environment.; 9/29/11, 9:08 AM
jr565 said...: or at least the women complaining about Obama's female trouble. Some women, like Sarah Palin, seem like alpha females who will not be pushed around. Those who can't deal with such stress should probalby not be in the presidents inner circle.; 9/29/11, 9:14 AM
deborah said...: Maybe women's demands for task-fulfillment is why you're typing on this computer, bub.; 9/29/11, 9:25 AM
Triangle Man said...: Why isn't it menstrogen rather than estrogen, by the way.

Because that would be sexist. It should be mynstrogen.

Plus, truth is more entertaining than fiction Estrogen is the hormone that causes estrus. Estrus is derived from greek and latin words meaning gadfly or frenzy.; 9/29/11, 10:03 AM
Doug said...: Russell Wilson lands in your lap ... and you can't come up with the Wisconsin Badgers ahead of the Brewers and the Packers? Geez!; 9/29/11, 10:23 AM
Mark said...: viator said...

But what explains Palin's woman problem?

Remember this is all percentages, but I think a number of women view Sarah Palin as the wife their own husbands would want them to be, and they cannot measure up. She fishes, she hunts (and gets the elk), she plays basketball, she goes through with giving birth to Trig, she runs for Vice President, she has a daughter who messed up and got pregnant, and yet she does not cower in a corner in shame. I have heard the catty statement "I hate her. She thinks she is so good."; 9/29/11, 10:38 AM
Biff said...: @Moose @bagoh20 - You are both right about the original, "true" meaning of shooting a wad, and that's the meaning that pops into my mind when I hear people use the phrase. That's probably because I grew up around people who hunted and who used firearms, even though I grew up just outside of NYC.

At the same time, I avoid using the phrase, since I know that some (most?) people think of the sexual connotation first, and not the firearms meaning.

For the same reason, I've stopped using the word "niggardly." It is a great word that concisely and pungently conveys a clearly non-racist meaning, but many (most?) people now believe it to mean something other than what is in the dictionary.

This may disappoint purists (and I tend to be a purist), but language does change over time, and the goal of language should be clear communication. Shooting a wad in general conversation today (ahem) doesn't have the clarity it once had (or may still have in certain groups). Insisting on traditional definitions when they are on the way to obsolescence may be noble, but it sometimes seems to inflame rather than to educate, and a good speaker must take that (and the audience) into account. Why intentionally step on landmines?; 9/29/11, 10:49 AM
Unknown said...: Oh, Ann... Your occasional semi- demi-smile (smirks?) at the beginning, and giving The Humorless Sullivan-Person/Woman ample opportunity to hang herself... Don't you think we MCOinkers are on to you?
Love ya,
Unkle Se; 9/29/11, 11:56 PM
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