The WH 'a genuinely hostile workplace for women'

A passage in the Ron Suskind book about the White House - which is not exactly a kind portrayal of the Obama administration's internal workings - has an explosive quote from former communications director Anita Dunn, according to the Washington Post:

Anita Dunn, a former communications director, is quoted as saying that “looking back, this place would be in court for a hostile workplace. . . . Because it actually fit all of the classic legal requirements for a genuinely hostile workplace for women.”



The Post goes on to note that Dunn insisted last week she never quite said that:

Dunn said Friday that she told Suskind “point-blank” that the White House “was not a hostile environment.”




Dunn is not the only official doing walk-backs of comments in the Suskind book in the pages of the Post - Larry Summers and Christina Romer does the same.

It's worth noting that the Suskind book was written with the cooperation of the White House, not in antagonism of it, making some of the pushback a bit tougher to sell.

UPDATE: Mike Allen has fuller snippets of the book, including a bit more on the "hostile work environment:"

‘The president has a real woman problem’ was the assessment of another high-ranking female official. ‘The idea of the boys’ club being just Larry and Rahm isn’t fair. He [Obama] was just as responsible himself.’ …

This article tagged under: White House

Anita Dunn