Maureen Dowd Is Sad Barack Obama Doesn’t Want To Play Golf With Her

Actually, I suspect the only thing Maureen Dowd is sad about is that she didn’t think to launch the ‘President Obama is a sexist golf player’ meme herself, the way she did with Obama protesters are racists.

Nevertheless, MoDo is weighing in on Obama’s habit of surrounding himself with men on the golf course (and elsewhere). And you know what, I suspect this may be one topic that Dowd, who has been circulating in powerful political spheres for much of her professional life, could actually shed some light on. And low and behold she does (with nary a swipe at the Clintons, even) meaning this is one of those rare columns that makes you wish MoDo could be on her game more frequently.

But I don’t kid myself that the presidential playing fields are merely about play. After Tom’s golf outing, Politico ran the headline: “Friedman jumps to the front of the influence list.”

Like other bosses, presidents surround themselves with people who make them comfortable. Poppy Bush liked racy humor, but was too gentlemanly to use it with women. So male advisers bonded with him by telling dirty jokes.

Obama likes to play sports, watch sports and talk sports. (Even his favorite TV shows, “Mad Men” and “Entourage,” are set in male-dominated worlds.) So the Obama aides who can do that, like Robert Gibbs, have a deeper personal connection with the president than someone like Rahm Emanuel, the former ballet dancer who prefers yoga to golf.

Just as some men can’t ingratiate themselves through sports, some women can. Condi Rice drew close to W. — nudging away Dick Cheney — by working out with him and talking football.