White House press secretary Jay Carney today revealed that President Obama had apologized to Kamala Harris for calling California's attorney general "by far the best looking attorney general" in the country. The story can be found
here. The remark, made during a DNC fundraiser, generated immediate MSM criticism of Obama's uncharacteristic unforced error. According to Carney, "[Obama] fully recognizes the challenges women continue to face in the workplace and that they should not be judged based on appearance. They're old friends. He certainly regretted that [his comments] caused a distraction." As for Harris's reaction, her camp released a
statement reaffirming the attorney general's longstanding friendship with and strong support of Obama.
Maybe they are friends, but this falls squarely in WGT (Why Go There) territory. Kind of like Obama's infamous
Special Olympics bowling comment on
The Tonight Show--just gratuitous and dumb.
He obviously knew that commenting on a professional woman's appearance
was sexist, or at the least would be interpreted as sexist by many, and, after the escapades of the Big Dog, Bill Clinton, should know that the public is not ready for another casanova-in-chief. Not to mention that with his second term initiatives stalling and public approval declining, his high favorability numbers, based significantly on the perception of Obama as a loving husband and father, is the best thing he has going at the moment. So what to make of this "old friends" defense? Seems like a weird kind of
differentiation strategy, redefining the comment as relationship schtick rather than condescending come-on. Does that make it okay because, what, he routinely compliments Harris on her looks? I can't imagine Michelle, nor the millions of Americans who adore Michelle, being thrilled about that.
Obama's quick apology (mortification strategy) and a plethora of other news stories (North Korea, today's jobs report, the president's budget, and next week's gun control debate in Congress) will take the air out of this incident in short order. But it was a stupid thing to say and he should know better. The "best looking" comment came just after Obama praised Harris as "brilliant," "dedicated," and "tough," instantly undercutting what should have been a shining career moment for the fast-rising California pol. I guess what bugs me most is that the president seemed to hand out that praise just to make the flirty banter more palatable, hence, the odd opening to the passage: "You have to be careful to, first of all, say she is brilliant and she is dedicated and she is tough..." Why would he need to be "careful" about espousing those qualities. It seems more likely that what he really wanted to remark on was how the attorney general's beauty made her more serious qualities a surprise, or something along those lines.
But, in the end, Obama ends up relatively unscathed and Harris gets national exposure (and a lot of Google image searches). The real loser in all of this is Eric Holder, who's probably thinking, "Yeah, she's attractive but, c'mon,
by far the best looking attorney general? What am I, chopped liver?"
Meanwhile, Kelli Goff, a blogger for
The Root, offers a different take on the episode
here, criticizing the double standard at work in the media's criticism of Obama. It's worth a read.
