I stopped by Clyde’s the morning after the debate. I was out of butter for toast, I was also out of bread for toast. That made his place seem like the logical choice.
It was early so I didn’t expect the ‘open’ sign to be lit. It wasn’t. The door was unlocked though.
I found Clyde just as I expected to find him, sitting at the bar, Roanoke Times scattered all around him while he nursed a cup of coffee.
“Don’t get up Clyde, I’ll pour my own.” I went behind the bar, scrabbled around until I found my favorite cup. Filled that thing up and ambled back to the public side of the bar and joined my friend.
His first words to me, maybe even his first words of the morning, were, “Did you see the debate last night Bunkie?”
“No, I was asleep for it. I watched it this morning online.”
“I did stay up for it Bunkie, and I’ve had the TV on in here until I just couldn’t stand any more talk about the binders. How it represents Mr. Romney’s attitude about women and how he disrespects ’em.
“Apparently I was the only one who was listening to what he was actually saying.
“He said he had some jobs to fill, I think when he first took office as governor, and soon noticed that all the applicants were male.
“Get me some female resumes,” he asked his staff. “He said they soon came back with several 3 ring binders full of only female resumes. He proceeded to add the best and brightest to the stack he had selected from the males, even though none of the women had applied for the jobs that needed to be filled. He even shared the binders with other departments.
“Now what’s so hard to understand there? Somehow that’s disrespectful to women? Gimme a break!
“Tell ya what, go back to my office and look inside. No need to go in, just look behind my desk.”
I did just that, stopping to refill my cup and pour Clyde another. Behind his desk is one of those, whatcha call it? A credenza.
As I sat back down beside him he asked, “Well?”
“There’s a credenza, full of what I assume are cookbooks.”
“A credenza? Ain’t no credenza in there. It’s a book case. On the top shelf is three, 3 ring binders. One for cooks, could be male or female. One for waiters, all male. And the third is for waitresses, all female.
“You know I don’t have much turnover here, must be ’cause I’m so lovable, but I do get a lot of job seekers. I tell them all I’m not looking for help now, but I will take their application or resume and put it in the appropriate binder. I tell them that way I have many to choose from when I do have an opening.
“My friendly competition knows about my binders too. They need somebody they come by here and have a beer while looking through the binders. It works for everbody.”
“So this is more than just a bar, it’s also a jobs fair?” I asked.
“You could call it that.
“Jenny,” he called into the kitchen, “Get Bunkie a boneless chicken breakfast.”
“How exactly did and does does Obama decide who to appoint to over 3,000 non-career positions in his administration, including his senior positions? How does his office of presidential personnel recruit candidates? How does it process and collate resumes, present options for the president for selecting candidates for top posts? And if Obama is not presented with a binder of qualified candidates, exactly how does he make his decision? What is he presented with and in what form?” (Mark Levin Show, October 18, 2012)
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