As a onetime point guard, the thrilla from Wasilla inspires girls to join the team. Obama doesn’t…though the story of his poker-playing in Illinois proves he knows how important behind-the-scenes bonding can be
This past weekend, President Obama included White House aide Melody Barnes in his golfing foursome. News? For this president, yes.Up until that golf game, Obama had not included a single woman in White House staff activities such as basketball, fishing and golf. So why now invite a female staffer? Because this week the media started to question whether Obama had essentially created a fraternity house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The media glare came after yet another high-level all-male basketball game earlier this month. When MSNBC's Savannah Guthrie asked Obama if these all-male games were sexist, Obama responded: “I think this is bunk."
By which I believe he meant, B.S. Meant that inclusion of women at this kind of level is not a goal worth considering. Meant that despite Title IX being passed three decades ago to give girls equal access to sports, our president, leader of the free world, just wants to hang with the guys. When he added, "I don't think it sends any kind of message or signal whatsoever," he was implying that sports equality doesn't matter, as a symbol or as a reality.
As the coach of a teen girls' basketball team, this story made me cringe. We mothers work so hard to teach our daughters that they can be whatever they want to be. Courtesy of Title IX, my daughter grew up watching the WNBA and believing that someday she will become a professional basketball player.
When Sarah Palin entered the national political scene as John McCain's V.P. candidate, my daughter read that the Alaskan had played point guard on her state-champion high school team. My daughter, who plays point guard on her seventh-grade travel team, proudly cut out a picture of Palin and put it on her locker with the comment, "Palin, You Rock My World!"
The importance of role models. Ugh, yes, role models. The message my daughter got from point-guard Palin was: My possibilities include the chance of running the world. And here's the message all our daughters are getting from watching Obama play hoops with the guys: It's still a man's world. You might get chosen for the Cabinet (25 percent of
