Washington: President Barack Obama has apologized to California’s top lawyer for causing a stir when he called her “the best-looking attorney general” at a fundraiser they attended together this week. The Dispatch News Desk (DND) reports.
A spokesman for Kamala Harris said she had a great conversation with Mr Obama and strongly supports him but would not say whether she had accepted his apology. Mr Obama apologized by telephone on Thursday night, White House press secretary Jay Carney said.
At a fundraiser in Silicon Valley earlier that day, Mr Obama raised eyebrows when he said Ms Harris “happens to be, by far, the best-looking attorney general in the country. It’s true! C’mon.” He prefaced the remark by saying 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.”
The “best-looking” comment instantly lit up social media, with some highlighting it as an example of the hurdles working women still face in the U.S. Mr Obama was criticized earlier this year for bringing in a heavily male group of advisers for his second term, which started in January.
“He called her to apologize for the distraction created by his comments,” Mr Carney told reporters on Friday. “He did not want in any way to diminish the attorney general’s professional accomplishments and her capabilities.”
Mr Carney went on to say that Mr Obama “fully recognizes the challenge women continue to face in the workplace and that they should not be judged based on appearance.”
