Obama Once Had to Apologize to Kamala Harris for Calling Her Attractive

Years before Barack Obama urged voters to make Kamala Harris the first female vice president at the 2020 Democratic National Convention, he took heat for praising her looks and then apologized for doing so.

“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,” the then-president said at an April 2013 fundraiser outside San Francisco about Harris, who was the California attorney general. “She also happens to be, by far, the best-looking attorney general in the country.” . . .

The comments prompted allegations of sexism. Salon writer Joan Walsh wrote that her “stomach turned over” when she heard the comment.

“Most women in public life have a complex relationship with their appearance, whether they’re as attractive as Harris or not,” she wrote, suggesting that “calling her ‘by far, the toughest attorney general’ would have had a better ring.” . . .

The next day, then-White House press secretary Jay Carney said that the president called Harris later that night and “apologized for the remark.” (Read more from “Obama Once Had to Apologize to Kamala Harris for Calling Her Attractive” HERE)

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