Obama thinks Kamala Harris is kinda hot.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Neither one of those are true compliments. Equivalent more to a boss telling his black employee he's simply hard working, or a man telling his secretary she looks hot today.

There is also no sign that Harris was bothered or offended at all.

[politicus]

Neither one of those are true compliments. Equivalent more to a boss telling his black employee he's simply hard working, or a man telling his secretary she looks hot today.

If he is her boss, thats also problematic. Its too sexual and the kind of compliment you dont wanna hear from someone who has power over you.

[bgwah]

It was an innappropriate thing to say.

This is also a great example of where the outrage-to-the-outrage is far more ridiculous than the actual outrage.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Neither one of those are true compliments. Equivalent more to a boss telling his black employee he's simply hard working, or a man telling his secretary she looks hot today.

If he is her boss, thats also problematic. Its too sexual and the kind of compliment you dont wanna hear from someone who has power over you.

But Obama is not Harris' boss.

[politicus]

Neither one of those are true compliments. Equivalent more to a boss telling his black employee he's simply hard working, or a man telling his secretary she looks hot today.

If he is her boss, thats also problematic. Its too sexual and the kind of compliment you dont wanna hear from someone who has power over you.

But Obama is not Harris' boss.

I was making a general comment about your example, not about Harris.

[Mehmentum]

Neither one of those are true compliments. Equivalent more to a boss telling his black employee he's simply hard working, or a man telling his secretary she looks hot today.

If he is her boss, thats also problematic. Its too sexual and the kind of compliment you dont wanna hear from someone who has power over you.

But Obama is not Harris' boss.

Whom she reports to is not the issue; Obama's remark on Harris' attractiveness is problematic because there's a significant imbalance of power between the two.

That doesn't make sense.  In that I mean, I don't understand how that makes a difference.  Yeah, Obama has a lot of power, so?

[Fuzzybigfoot]

lol

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Didn't he also say something like this about Arne Duncan at some point?

[Mr. Morden]

Again, if I were to introduce a female speaker at a professional conference in my field, and in the course of listing her accomplishments, said she was the hottest woman in the field, people would think it was pretty inappropriate.  Doesn't actually matter whether I'm her boss or not.  It's just inappropriate and unprofessional, because it reinforces the idea that women should be judged on their looks in the professional world, and that her looks are part of the reason why we should value her.

And of course whether Harris says she was offended or not has no bearing on whether Obama should have said it in the first place.  At the time Obama said it, he had no way of knowing what Harris's reaction was going to be!  (And in the very public context in which this occurred, it's possible that Harris didn't like it, but didn't say so because she didn't want to feed the political storm over a relatively minor transgression on Obama's part.)

[DrScholl]

It's amazing what people will get outraged about. Obama has complimented more men on looks than women, so it seems to me that there isn't any gender issue here. If there was no outrage when he called men good looking, why should there be any because he said it about a woman?

[Kitteh]

It's amazing what people will get outraged about. Obama has complimented more men on looks than women, so it seems to me that there isn't any gender issue here. If there was no outrage when he called men good looking, why should there be any because he said it about a woman?

Because in our society women are judged far more for their appearance than men are. I hope that isn't a controversial statement, it should be blatantly obvious to anyone who doesn't have their head up their a**. Speaking as one of the few people who has experienced living and being perceived as both genders, it's one of the most clear and easily observable things related to gender in our society. It should be easy to see how this limits women and hinders gender equality as well.

The problem here isn't "OMG Obama is a sexist jerk". It's about how society as a whole judges women and men very differently w/r/t appearances. This Kamala Harris incident isn't a problem in itself, it's a symptom of a larger problem. It's very common in America for people to lose the forest for the trees when talking about race and gender-related issues, to look at any single statement as an isolated incident reflective of one person's character, without considering the larger social trends related to any statement. Perhaps it has to do with America's fierce individualism, or the ADHD, short-term nature of the modern media that makes the context of any event, whether it's a conflict in the Middle East or the latest Washington "scandal", irrelevant. Things like racism and sexism aren't the result of a few malicious bigots, more often they are perpetuated unknowingly by good, well-meaning people who are merely repeating common social patterns of behavior that have been unconsciously taught to them since childhood. That's likely the case here. I don't believe that Obama had bad intentions or hates women or anything. He probably meant well, and was giving a genuine compliment. The problem here is that his compliment was reflective of deeply problematic gender patterns in our society.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

It's amazing what people will get outraged about. Obama has complimented more men on looks than women, so it seems to me that there isn't any gender issue here. If there was no outrage when he called men good looking, why should there be any because he said it about a woman?

Because in our society women are judged far more for their appearance than men are. I hope that isn't a controversial statement, it should be blatantly obvious to anyone who doesn't have their head up their a**. Speaking as one of the few people who has experienced living and being perceived as both genders, it's one of the most clear and easily observable things related to gender in our society. It should be easy to see how this limits women and hinders gender equality as well.

The problem here isn't "OMG Obama is a sexist jerk". It's about how society as a whole judges women and men very differently w/r/t appearances. This Kamala Harris incident isn't a problem in itself, it's a symptom of a larger problem. It's very common in America for people to lose the forest for the trees when talking about race and gender-related issues, to look at any single statement as an isolated incident reflective of one person's character, without considering the larger social trends related to any statement. Perhaps it has to do with America's fierce individualism, or the ADHD, short-term nature of the modern media that makes the context of any event, whether it's a conflict in the Middle East or the latest Washington "scandal", irrelevant. Things like racism and sexism aren't the result of a few malicious bigots, more often they are perpetuated unknowingly by good, well-meaning people who are merely repeating common social patterns of behavior that have been unconsciously taught to them since childhood. That's likely the case here. I don't believe that Obama had bad intentions or hates women or anything. He probably meant well, and was giving a genuine compliment. The problem here is that his compliment was reflective of deeply problematic gender patterns in our society.

So should Obama be only allowed to compliment men on their looks? He's an equal-opportunity complimenter here, so it doesn't seem as if he's judging Harris based on her looks anymore than the men of which previous posters have provided examples.

[Mr. Morden]

So should Obama be only allowed to compliment men on their looks? He's an equal-opportunity complimenter here, so it doesn't seem as if he's judging Harris based on her looks anymore than the men of which previous posters have provided examples.

If he actually complimented absolutely everyone on their looks, regardless of what they look like, then it would be kind of weird, but people would learn to ignore it.  However, if he's only complimenting people who are, shall we say, "conventionally attractive", but not saying the same of a Barbara Mikulski for example, then yeah, it's definitely not appropriate.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

The only story I want to hear regarding his correct comments, is what Mama Michelle said when he got home. 

[old timey villain]

What's wrong with complimenting someone on their looks? In the south that's how you start a conversation!

[Lief 🗽]

The only story I want to hear regarding his correct comments, is what Mama Michelle said when he got home. 

Doesn't look good for ol' Barry, Gramps:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

lol

[Old Man Svensson]

Male boss slaps his female secretary on the ass. "It's a compliment, you don't need to get offended!"

White person lauds a black person's work ethic: "You're pretty hard-working for a n! ...It's a compliment, you don't need to get offended!"

Speaking as someone who tries his hardest to be mindful of social justice and decency, you may have just posted the most ridiculous strawman I have ever seen in my entire life.

[Silent Hunter]

Neither one of those are true compliments. Equivalent more to a boss telling his black employee he's simply hard working, or a man telling his secretary she looks hot today.

What if 1. the boss is black and 2. the man is married to his secretary?

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

The only story I want to hear regarding his correct comments, is what Mama Michelle said when he got home. 

Doesn't look good for ol' Barry, Gramps:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

lol

Yeah, his ass may be sleeping out on the balcony that overlooks the South Lawn.  You read all kinds of garbage on the internets, but when I read that Mama Michelle is one jealous woman, I do believe that.  Ha ha.