President Obama caused ruffles on a fundraising jaunt to San Francisco when he said in a speech at a fundraising house party that state Attorney General Kamala Harris (pictured) was "by far the best-looking attorney general in the country." The Washington Post made a full story out of it, using the throwaway line the same way the media has done so often against Republican politicians, suggesting it was part of a larger pattern of regrettable behavior: "Obama rekindles talk of a White House boys' club [1]."
President Obama reopened the debate Thursday over whether his administration is too influenced by men after praising the looks of Kamala Harris, California’s attorney general and a possible future gubernatorial candidate....Obama’s remarks during a fundraising trip to the Bay Area buzzed through Twitter and other social media, where reaction ranged from appalled to leave-the-guy-alone.
But the buzz didn't reach the print edition of Friday's New York Times, which limited its coverage of an angle unflattering to Obama to a single sentence in the middle of a larger story (Peter Baker filed a tough report [2] for the paper's "Caucus" blog on Thursday, but it didn't make it into print.)
Reporter Michael Shear gave Obama's remarks a studiously neutral reference under a headline that gave no hint of the controversy: "Obama’s Fund-Raising Trip Becomes Forum on Pipeline [3]."
On Thursday, Mr. Obama wound up his trip with a fund-raiser in suburban Atherton, where he ran through his usual agenda: immigration, gun control and greater investment infrastructure. But his comments about Kamala D. Harris,the California attorney general, drew the most notice on the Internet.
“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 president said. “She also happens to be by far the best-looking attorney general in the country.”