Obama Unleashes Criticism by Complimenting California's Attorney General

Careful and always self-restrained, President Obama nevertheless let his guard down on Thursday night during a fundraising event in San Francisco by describing Kamala Harris as “by far, the best-looking attorney general in the country.” The name of this 48-year-old daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants was unknown to the residents of that state until hours ago, when the media and especially the social networks began to seethe with criticism for Obama for having made such an inappropriate and sexist comment.

The press secretary for the White House, Jay Carney, declared today in his usual press conference that the president has called Harris and had “apologized for the remark.” Obama didn’t intend to “diminish the attorney general’s professional accomplishments and her capabilities,” Carney said.

“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,” started Obama in the opening of the presentation of noteworthy people who attended the event. “She also happens to be by far the best-looking attorney general in the country,” Obama declared to applause and insisted, “It’s true! C’mon.” By this time the president laughed at his occurrence with that wide smile that showed that he was able to relax for a while and exit the constrained role locked on him.

Maybe sensing that something he had just said would provide him good tabloids and that it didn’t keep up with political correctness that the U.S. requires, Obama exclaimed a loud “c’mon,” as if he meant to convince the audience of the fact that it was obvious that Harris was a beauty, and everyone thought it but nobody said it. Emphasizing the comment, noting the fact that he wasn’t flirting with a stranger, the leader shared the fact that Harris is a good friend of his and a fan for many years.

Has the president been infected by the hearty humor of his number two, Joe Biden? Was the comment sexist? Out of place? Insulting? Fox News has already renamed the commander in chief “flirter in chief.”

“Being judged on your appearance in the context of a job by men is a threat to women in a way it is not a threat to men,” wrote Jonathan Chait, a commenter for New York Magazine. Obama is “in need of gender-sensitivity training,” he insisted in his blog.

The San Francisco Chronicle said in its online edition that it was a shame that the president’s compliment altered at the last minute an otherwise calm two-day fundraising trip along California.

The president, married to Michelle Obama, in spite of the fact that she had a slip during an interview this week describing herself as a “single mother” — which she immediately corrected — will keep on being the center of jokes and dialectical blows for the next few days online. By now, some political enemies of the Democratic leader have already created a Twitter list in order to vote for the best-looking attorney general in the country.