Archive: April, 2013
Jenice Armstrong, Daily News Columnist
No disrespect, Mr. President, but you really should have known better than to bring up the subject of California Attorney General Kamala Harris' looks the way you did Thursday.
True, she's one gorgeous woman. Everyone at that fundraiser in Silicon Valley that you both attended could take one look at Harris and see it. Trust me, Harris knows it, too. No doubt, she’s reminded about how men view her every single time she walks down the street. So, there was no need to bring it up the way you did when you called her the “best-looking attorney general in the country.”
Mr. President, you were doing just fine when you pointed to Harris’ many attributes, referring to her as “brilliant,” “dedicated” and “tough.” But then you went where too many men have blindly stumbled before and weighed in on her appearance.
I’ll bet you embarassed her but good.
You see, when you’re trying to get ahead based on your skills and abilities, constantly having people comment on your looks can be deflating. It gets old. Harris is attorney general - not Miss USA. People toss her name around as a possible gubernatorial candidate or maybe even a future Supreme Court Justice. How her facial features are arranged should be irrelevant. No wonder feminists and folks on Twitter have come down so hard on you for bringing the subject up.
I’m glad you realize you erred and have apologized to Harris for the distraction your comments caused. Going forward, you’d be wise to heed the wisdom of your friend James Carville, the Democratic strategist, and learn to keep mum.
“Look, I’m a 68-year- old guy and I do notice honestly the way that women look sometimes, but you’ve got to learn to sort of keep your opinions to yourself,” Politico quoted Carville as having said on MSNBC. “I doubt if he’ll do it again. Not the worst thing that ever happened. Based on the pictures, it’s probably true.”
Yeah, it’s true.
But Harris has to be tired of hearing it by now.
Jenice Armstrong, Daily News Columnist
I’m back from a one-week furlough and wondering what everyone thinks about that controversial letter to the editor penned to the student newspaper at Princeton University. In the op-ed piece, written by Susan A. Patton, a 1977 graduate of the school, she warns female to students to look for a husband while they’re still undergraduates.
“For most of you, the cornerstone of your future and happiness will be inextricably linked to the man you marry, and you will never again have this concentration of men who are worthy of you. Here’s what nobody is telling you: Find a husband on campus before you graduate. Yes, I went there.”
The mother and a Princeton grad herself, Patton added, “Smart women can’t (shouldn’t) marry men who aren’t at least their intellectual equal. As Princeton women, we have almost priced ourselves out of the market. Simply put, there is a very limited population of men who are as smart or smarter than we are. And I say again — you will never again be surrounded by this concentration of men who are worthy of you.”
Read more from Jenice Armstrong at Earth to Philly, the Daily News blog on anything and everything "Green."
Reach Jenice at armstrj@phillynews.com.
