Best-Looking Attorney General? Kamala Harris Gets Strange Compliment From Obama
Kamala Harris, California’s state Attorney General, got some effusive praise yesterday from none other than President Barack Obama at a California Democratic party fundraiser in Atherton. So far, so good. Harris was an early supporter of Obama’s and a speaker at the Democratic convention in Charlotte in 2012 when he was campaigning for re-election.
She’s also a rising star herself, with rumors flying that she may run as governor for California.
So you’d expect the president to say nice things.
However, a firestorm flared up when some observers thought he was a little bit too nice when Obama introduced Kamala Harris this way:
“You have to be careful to, first of all, say she is brilliant and she is dedicated and she is tough, and she is exactly what you’d want in anybody who is administering the law, and making sure that everybody is getting a fair shake. She also happens to be by far the best-looking attorney general in the country – Kamala Harris is here.”
Sounds like a typical fundraiser introduction to me, but some people reacted like they’d never heard a lame joke before.
For example, The Atlantic’s Garance Franke-Ruta called Obama’s compliment a gaffe even while acknowledging that “nobody looks like Harris at her age (48) without effort and without herself valuing beauty and fitness.”
Franke-Ruta added: “President Obama’s remark mistook the setting. Just as it’s perfectly appropriate to tell a colleague she looks gorgeous when she’s dressed to the nines for some black tie work event, it would be inappropriate to refer to her as ‘gorgeous over there’ during a work meeting.”
The reaction from Twitter was priceless:
President Obama said “california attorney general kamala harris ” was a ” HOT babe” hahaha (just kidding)
— JOELISKA (@warpony2310) April 5, 2013
“Calling people ‘good-looking’ — men, women, Penguins — is just something he does.” Best take on Obama’s AG intro nymag.com/daily/intellig…
— Emma Fidel (@emmafidel) April 5, 2013
Kamala Harris is very attractive but I think Nevada AG #CatherineCortezMasto is way better looking.
— Mary Langford (@MaryinNV) April 5, 2013
Folks are up in arms about Obama calling Kamala Harris the best looking Attorney General. She’s 48 puts 20 somethings to shame. Sit down.
— Sarah B. (@Mocha_Bee) April 5, 2013
James Carville also thinks Kamala Harris is ‘the best-looking’ attorney general bit.ly/ZimcIC #tcot
— Drudge Report (@tweetdrudge) April 5, 2013
Disappointed in Obama for “best-looking Attorney General” line. washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-pol…
— Jed (@elysdir) April 5, 2013
For once Obama was right! Calif Atty General Kamala Harris is very good looking! Get over it!
— Steven Pigott (@StevenPigott) April 5, 2013
For the record, by all reports, the crowd in attendance at the actual event just laughed, as crowds always politely laugh at this sort of mild joke. The whole Kamala Harris/Pres. Obama flap appears to have been dreamed up later, after a few people reviewed the transcript of what was no doubt an otherwise not-too terribly interesting fundraiser.
What do you think? Is Kamala Harris indeed the best-looking attorney general? And was it OK for Obama to say so?
[Kamala Harris official photo courtesy California Attorney General’s Office]
