U.S. Supreme Court

Obama is un-PC in remarks about AG thought to be Supreme Court material

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Kamala Harris. DFree
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California Attorney General Kamala Harris has a lot going for her. She is thought to be a possible Supreme Court nominee. She has cracked down on mortgage fraud and prosecuted drug traffickers. Is she also the best looking attorney general in the country? President Obama apparently thinks so, and his comments are raising controversy.

Obama introduced Harris on Thursday at a Democratic fundraiser in California, report the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times Caucus blog. “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,” Obama said said. “She also happens to be, by far, the best looking attorney general in the country.”

Some in the crowd laughed and applauded, the stories say. “It’s true!” Obama said. “Come on!”

Critics said the president’s remarks were sexist and illustrated problems early in his first term when he failed to nominate women to important cabinet positions. Then there was the reaction of the website BuzzFeed, the Los Angeles Times notes. It published a list of the nation’s “hottest attorneys general” (all men).

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