In reference to the President’s remark about Kamala Harris for which he later apologized.
I don’t see what the problem is here. Sure, if he’d commented on her looks to the exclusion of all else I could understand. But the comment was a light-hearted afterthought, he’d already praised her brilliance, dedication, toughness. She is a good-looking woman. What’s wrong with saying so? There was no implication at all that her looks were her sole or even most important attribute.
There was nothing wrong with it except in a political sense. In that sense it was insensitive to overly sensitive people.
I agree, but I’m basing a lot of that on their long previous relationship. However if I’m going to be completely honest, even before I heard about that part, it didn’t really seem like a big deal, but as a guy, I won’t pretend to understand the sensibilities of working women.
As an aside which may or may not be relevant, my perception, correct or not, is that women themselves still tend to place an inordinate emphasis on appearance and perceived attractiveness. To the extent than I’m right about this, I think there is probably some justification for that - which is not to say that it is justified, it certainly isn’t. But unfortunately, attractive people of both sexes tend to get preferential treatment and think this tends to be amplified in the case of women.
Anyway, I think political correctness has become a bit too strident when paying someone a compliment, even a vain, superficial one, is enough to get you in hot water.
I will now lie down and calmly allow myself to vivisected.
You wouldn’t be weirded out at all, if someone high up in your company, in front of god and everybody said, “Deltasigma can run a TPS report like nobody’s business and check out his gams!”?
We all like to look attractive and pleasant but calling attention to it in a situation where it’s not relevant is offputting at best.
We have a history of a womans’ value in our society based on the extent of their physical attractiveness — I can see how bringing up attractiveness in a field that has nothing to do with attractiveness might have some baggage beyond taking the words at face-value.
We also live in a world where the words of a media figure were parsed and regurgitated to make hay for political factions with an axe to grind — I could see why a person might want to make efforts to make sure their comments are as inoffensive as possible.
I’d love to live in a world that didn’t have social hurdles certain classes never had to struggle against in which the things we say can just be taken at face value. Also, I wish I had a pony.
That’s a good point. But now I’ wondering, how much of a line do we draw between a comment like Obama’s and one where you’re picking out anatomical attributes. I’m biting my tongue and refusing to be more specific. 
Okay. “deltasigma is a world famous financial advisor and a very handsome man!”
Yeah, still weird
You mean, aside from it being complete bullshit? Huh.
Eh, we’re only a generation or so removed from a US where woman were seen as unfit for most prestigious or powerful positions purely by virtue of their gender. Its still easily within living memory for a lot of people out there, so it’s hardly surprising a lot of professional woman are sensitive to being pigeonholed as sex-objects in a way men aren’t.
Obama obviously didn’t mean anything except to make a flattering joke (I saw a listing of similar comments he’s made, mainly about men, somewhere. Joking about how good-looking people are is something of a verbal tic with him). But given the recent history of woman in the US (and just about everywhere else), I don’t think its unreasonable for people to suggest he reserve the “good looking jokes” for private settings.
Plus it was factually wrong, everyone knows Pam Bodi is the best looking AGILF.
Because it has nothing to do with her ability.
Obama also said she was a good friend and had been a supporter of his for many years which has nothing to do with her abilities either. So there’s probably a bit more to it than her looks not having anything to do with her ability.
Is this one of those situations where people who dislike Obama simply stir up a tempest in a teapot? Are there significant swaths of Obama supporters who really care about this?
Yup. More feminist-than-thou types looking for cover when they bust some right-winger for being a contemptible pig because he makes some crude remark in the future. “Hey, I gave Obama a hard time over that thing he said about Kamala Harris, so this is definitely NOT partisan chops-busting” sort of thing.
Whenever men are baffled about how women react to attention, I think the most useful analogy is picturing that attention coming from a gay man. If your gay boss made that comment, wouldn’t many straight men feel a little uncomfortable? Isn’t it a little inappropriate in a professional setting?
And let’s get our heads on straight here. Nobody is deeply offended or actually personally hurt by this. The reaction is coming because it sets a bad example. It’s a bad habit to get in to, and it’s inappropriate. Nobody thinks this is the worst thing in the world, but it’s still not appropriate and it encourages the normalization of people who are actually being offensive (such as making directly sexual comments, picking apart the bodies of their female coworkers, etc.)
It is weird, and I’m not getting why people think this is a “PC” thing. All you have to ask yourself is if the president would have said anything about her looks if she were a dude. Nope, he wouldn’t have. Even if they were best friends. Because it would be weird if he had.
I would have found it strange if folks had given the president a pass on this.
For heaven’s sake, he was giving a speech, not coming on to her in private. I’m no Obama fan, but come on.
Regards,
Shodan
But he’s also not gay. I’ve heard women publicly comment on attractive men, not politicians to my memory but certainly I’ve heard comments.
When I worked for the commonwealth we had a dinner every year where the commissioner of our department would usually make a few brief remarks thanking us for our work for the year. Our commissioner happened to be a woman (quite attractive actually, though irrelevant to this story.) Anyway, there was a younger guy who worked in the office who was what would be considered handsome/attractive and engaged in light flirtation with most of the women in the office (mostly middle aged women.) Anyway, during her comments the commissioner usually took time to mention several people by name for things they had done during the year. When she mentioned the young man she said something to the effect of, “And James has really boosted morale amongst all the women in the office…” to which everyone laughed.
Now I’m not saying it’s appropriate/inappropriate, but why would you expect a heterosexual male to comment on a man’s looks? Doesn’t make sense. It made sense for the commissioner to do so because she obviously finds men attractive instead of women.
Now does it make it appropriate? Not really. But I have a much bigger issue (while still not really having an issue) with what my commissioner said than what Obama said. The commissioner was the head of the department and this guy’s ultimate boss, I think it’s a lot less appropriate for her to comment on an employee’s looks than it is Obama to comment on someone who doesn’t work for him. Generally if talking about an accomplished public servant and giving them praise, you should focus on their skill and ability–which Obama seems to have done, the fact that he also made a friendly compliment about her appearance doesn’t really seem that bad to me since it wasn’t the only thing he said about her.
Obama makes similar jokes about men pretty frequently. I don’t think its weird, its just sort of a goto joke for him.
The analogy is kinda poor, since Obama’s not her boss. He was at a fundraiser where the entire point is for him to sing her praises. But in any case, I don’t think I’d feel uncomfortable if a gay boss joked about how good looking I was in a similar setting, assuming it was clearly a joke (as it was in this case). I don’t think anyone complaining about the comment is complaining because there was some sort of leacherous intent.
Holy hell. She’s 47?
Yeah. Its not like he said “Damn, that bitch is hot as fuck!”
It’s a bunch of things. Harris is a very good AG and doesn’t need the “and pretty” to diminish that in a political introduction speech. It’s not quite “binders full of women” insensitive, but the same thing.