Obama finally admits women to his all-boys club

Who would’ve thought that President Obama, the first black president of the United States, would be liable to criticism for fostering extracurricular activities that exclude women.  Yet, ironically, that is precisely the case.

This criticism reached a tipping point last week when he invited only male members of his Cabinet and Congress to the White House to play basketball.

And when a reporter asked him during an interview on Wednesday if he thought his boys-only outings (especially to play golf) were sending the wrong message, he dismissed the criticism as “bunk,” insisting that:

I don’t think it sends any kind of message or signal whatsoever… [I have] hired women into some of the most important decision-making positions in this White House.

Fair enough….

But when I saw the video of this interview over the weekend, I thought that Obama’s defensiveness betrayed political insensitivity and tone-deafness that were truly stupefying. In fact, he seemed utterly clueless about the fact that this is precisely the kind of rationalization stuffy old white men once used to defend their good ol’ boy network, which invariably entailed bonding on the golf course.

To his credit, though, Obama is nothing if not a quick study. Because I suspect that, even before he completed that fateful interview, he was thinking of a way to redress this egregious oversight.

Therefore, it was hardly surprising that cameras caught Melody Barnes, the Domestic Policy Council Director, lumbering with clubs in tow across the front lawn of the White House heading out for a PR round of golf with Obama. 

And thus was another gender barrier broken.  It’s just too bad that cameras could not confirm whether Barnes was actually invited to play or merely to serve as the president’s caddy….

Meanwhile, a few female members of his Cabinet and Congress have insinuated that it’s probably Obama’s fear of being outplayed by girls than any desire to bond with “The Boys” that has motivated his politically incorrect choice of basketball and golfing playmates:

Jay: I know you were quite a good college basketball player. Who would win at a game of Horse? You or President Obama?

Kathleen: I actually made my college basketball team. You know? Bring it on. Give me your best shot.

(HHS Secretary Kathleen Sibelius on the Oct. 7 episode of The Jay Leno Show)

 Ouch! Game on….