He Should Have Known Better - Obama's Speechwriter Gropes Cardboard Hillary
Two guys, some beer and a cardboard cutout of Hillary Clinton have created fresh grief for the young and uninitiated to Washington Rules....The Washington Post adroitly grabbed the photo and posted it on their site. As Post reporter Al Kamen observes in the article accompanying the photo:Jon Favreau, a Holy Cross valedictorian and 27-year-old wunderkind speechwriter for Barack Obama, was captured clutching the a cardboard cut-out of the prospective secretary of State's, um, pectoral area, while a fellow reveler, wearing an "Obama Staff" T-shirt, nuzzles Clinton's ear and holds a beer bottle to her smiling lips.
The photo popped up on Facebook for a couple of hours before being removed ... too late. The moment was captured and the rest was instant and persistent history. On the Information Highway, alas, roadkill is never really dead.
Question No. 58 in the transition team vetting document for the Obama White House asks that applicants: "Please provide the URL address of any websites that feature you in either a personal or professional capacity (e.g. Facebook, My Space, etc.)"Good thing he didn't need to pass this stringent vetting process, because he wouldn't have. Already plugged into the system as Obama's chief speechwriter, Favreau should have known better. Is it overweening arrogance, or just plain old stupidity that caused him to act so ridiculously...then post his exploits on Facebook for all to view?Question No. 63 asks that applicants "please provide any other information ... that could ... be a possible source of embarrassment to you, your family, or the President-Elect."
I'd make a screaming fuss about this but Parker writes that others have already done that:
Feminists groups such as NOW and The New Agenda are outraged that Clinton -- or at least her image -- is being treated disrespectfully by the boys. Conservatives are outraged that there's not enough outrage, as would be the case were the party boys Republicans.Here we go again. If we don't grin wryly and say, "Boys will be boys," we're accused of being humorless feminazis. If we do "go along to get along" then we are complicit in allowing the bad behavior to continue unchecked and unremarked-upon.An attorney wrote on the Feminist Law Professors blog that Favreau should not be excused for "youthful indiscretion" and questioned Obama's judgment "in continuing to rely professionally on someone so young and irresponsible and offensively sexist."...
Only Hillary Clinton has made light of the "incident"....Nevertheless, Clinton's response has fallen short of what some deem appropriate. CNN's Campbell Brown charged Clinton with forfeiting her feminist cred, especially after issuing her own charges of sexism throughout the presidential campaign. Now that Clinton's a member of the Obama team, she suddenly has a sense of humor?
Clinton's put up with a lot of sexist treatment during her presidential campaign, and in some ways it's admirable that she's just shrugging off this latest incident and letting it go. But the rest of us shouldn't, because if we just accept it and say, "So what?" this sort of thing will never go away. This is not acceptable behavior, and we should have no qualms about saying it has no place in an Obama presidency.
Related article:
Comments
Favreau isn’t the enemy and sexuality doesn’t scare me. Pay inequity, rape as an act of war, and institutional sexism scare me. When we make a big deal of Favreau’s behavior but ignore Mia Farrow’s plea for help in The Congo, we belittle the feminist movement.
Laurie, you’re right – Favreau isn’t the enemy. But this isn’t about sexuality – it’s about power. HRC is twice his age, and there’s no physical attraction involved. Instead, it’s an infantile way of saying ‘I control you – I have reduced you to a sexual object – I have negated your power.’ Would he have behaved the same with a John McCain cardboard cutout? Definitely not.
Your point about the Congo is well made. As a nation, we need to make better choices in the world, whether it’s supporting girls schools in Afghanistan so students and teachers can attend safely without being doused by acid, to finding a way to provide medical assistance to the hundreds dying of cholera in Zimbabwe without supporting a corrupt government, to finally doing something about Darfur.
HRC will have a role to play, but it’s the Obama administration that the world is looking to for leadership.
And very simply put, Favreau’s antics have no place in a game-changing administration. From the man who puts words in Obama’s mouth during the crucial moments of his political career, I’d expect a little more class and a lot less frat boy behavior.
Not to belabor the frat boy images… but she is the wife of the ultimate frat boy…
And one has to only wonder about the cardboard cutout of Sarah Palin in a certain Chappequa basement.
I’m already with At&t and have an Unlimited data plan, how would that effect the price of my plan? I have a friend with the old iphone and I’ve pretty much figured out the differences in features and all that, I’ve also heard about some of the problems. Just wondering if there was anything I should know before i decide to buy the iphone 3g? Thanx.
________________
unlock iphone 3g 3.1