We haven’t gotten around to noting the Obama administration’s order to open all military jobs to women, “removing the final barriers that kept women from serving in combat, including the most dangerous and grueling commando posts.” Dan Gelernter is an occasional contributor to the Weekly Standard and chief executive officer of Dittach.com. Dan comments:
America takes its sports more seriously than its military. This is the conclusion we can draw from the December announcement by woebegone Defense Secretary Ashton Carter that women will now “be able to serve as Army Rangers and Green Berets, Navy SEALs, Marine Corps infantry, Air Force parajumpers, and everything else that was previously open only to men.” As though the only thing that militates against women serving in the military is baseless sexism.
The President likes golf, as do most presidents. It’s not the most aggressive sport in the world, but it is a sport where professional athletes of both sexes play the same courses and we can make comparisons of skill. Would the President be surprised to learn that on Golf Digest’s list of America’s 100 greatest golf courses, every single course record is held by a man? Women’s records are invariably a few strokes higher. The best women golfers, devoting their entire lives to the game, may be better than most golfers in the world, but they are never as good as the best men golfers.
Why hasn’t the NFL or the NBA or the NHL or the MLB followed the Obama Administration’s brave lead and started fielding women? In 2013, Lauren Silberman tried out as an NFL kicker and lasted just “two pathetic and pitiful” punts before limping off the field. Her best kick made it a whopping 19 yards. There hasn’t been a whole lot of women-in-the-NFL agitation since then. The idea of women joining, say, the Patriots’ defensive lineup, remains so ridiculous that not even the most doe-eyed frappuccino feminist is badgering professional football for women’s right to be trampled underfoot. But does the Secretary of Defense imagine that what happens in war is less violent than being run over by offensive tackle Sebastian Vollmer (6’8”, 320 lbs)?
If Obama believes what he says he believes about women, he should be doing all he can to ensure that women will be out on the courts, fields and diamonds next year, giving the same lift to professional sports that they will be giving our combat infantry.
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