Stop Me Before I Vote Again

It's starting to look like loathesome, porcine Larry Summers is out of the running for Obama's treasury secretary. Wage-earners everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief -- but breathe it quick, before you find out who Obie will pick.

Summers is out, it appears, not because he's a fanatical advocate of the unfettered dictatorship of finance capital, but because he's fallen foul of the Free Alterations Feminist (FAF) movement:

Intense backlash from women’s groups may have pushed former Clinton Treasury Secretary Larry Summers off the short-list to lead Treasury for President-elect Barack Obama....

The Summers backlash rises out of a controversial 2005 comment he made as president of Harvard University that innate differences between men and women might be one reason fewer women succeed in science and math careers.

"Backlash" is an odd term to use in this connection. "Rage" -- quite justified rage, too -- would seem to be more appropriate. Here's one case, anyway, where the FAFs have done a good thing. As far as it goes.

One one of my lefty mailing lists, a comrade sourly noted:

For what it's worth...here's my favorite paragraph:

"Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, said there are other reasons to oppose Summers, citing his involvement in Clinton-era policies that many say contributed to the current economic woes."

Three cheers for Kim Gandy. I really appreciate the fact that NOW takes an expansive view of its mandate.