"He sure was a lot more generous with me..."
by digby
Jonathan Alter is on television today, predictably flogging his boring book that nobody read as being superior to Suskind's, particularly taking issue with the claims that the White House wasn't exactly friendly to women:
Alter: there was concern that there was a boys club and the president reacted to that concern. This dinner which Ron Suskind has been talking about, and I named all the women at the dinner in my book, and they had their gripes.
But there's a big difference between it being a boy's club and it being a hostile work environment even if one of the women is on tape sort of saying that, who now says she didn't mean it that way.
Bashir: you're referring to Anita Dunn who is now saying to Ron Suskind it was a hostile work environment.
Alter: The question so far has been, "did Anita Dunn say it, did she not say it" that's not the issue. The issue is, was that a hostile work environment and the answer to that is no.
I've talkied to a lot of women about this. It was a hostile work environment for both men and women because they thought that Larry Summers and Rahm Emmanuel were very tough to work for.
And that's what they agreed to at this dinner with the President. It was a gripe session about Larry and Rahm.
Bashir: So it wasn't the president setting this tone and environment it was Larry Summers
Alter: no not at all. And in fact if you read Suskind's book you can see that it's not the president. But the shorthand and the way it's come across in the media it's conveyed an impression ...
I had some very tough things to say about the WH in my book but it needs to be accurate. In other words, the impression people are getting now that this was an anti-woman White House is just not so.
Right, And the privileged white guy would know that better than anyone, right?
Alter basically said that it's very hard to work in the White House for everyone and these women who banded together to confront the president with their "gripes" aren't as tough as the boys and can't handle the pressure. Why else wouldn't it have been representatives of both genders in this meeting? He made this point more than once.
Lord knows it's not the first time I've heard this either. If a man doesn't recognize sexism it didn't actually happen. (Witness Howard Dean having his consciousness raised.) This is the most common (and infuriating) reaction women, particularly executives, in the workplace get from men when the subject is brought up. "Toughen up, sweetie. It's not personal. If you can't stand the heat ...."
In my experience this stuff just doesn't come out of nowhere. This passage that Delong relates about Romer does not let the President off the hook in any way. (Click on each image to read them)
There's a reason why she talked with Dunn and Jarrett about this incident and it isn't because Rahm and Larry were so hard to work for.
I don't know if the White House boys club is sexist. But I do know that listening to people like Jonathan Alter "explain" why it isn't doesn't reassure me. I've heard that fatuous crap for decades and I can't believe these guys will actually go on television and spout it as if it isn't insulting as hell. Even today. In 2011. We haven't come that far, baby.
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