black-culture:

Obama’s Kamala Harris ‘best looking’ comment crossed the line

California Attorney General Kamala Harris is brilliant, accomplished, and by all accounts has a very promising political future.

President Barack Obama and Attorney General Harris are close personal friends, so when he reportedly saidat a Democratic fundraiser about Harris, “She’s brilliant and she’s dedicated, she’s tough…She also happens to be, by far, the best looking attorney general,” the president certainly meant it as a harmless compliment about a friend.  But his comments about Harris’ looks in a public space are not appropriate.

President Obama is a feminist ally which is why it’s important to call this remark out, with love, in order to bring awareness to the issue of sexism in politics.

The focus on Harris’ looks is not new.  Harris’ run for district attorney in 2003 was wrought with sexism.

Salon’s Joan Walsh wrote yesterday, that while covering Harris’ race in 2003, she received calls from Democrats who wanted to comment on how Harris’ success was in part because she was physically attractive and had a past personal relationship with former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown.

Kamala Harris’ looks are irrelevant

Harris’ physical appearance is not relevant, in terms of how she does her job.  Harris is not a fashion model;  she’s the chief law enforcement officer in the state of California and should be judged on her credentials and nothing more.

Adding her looks to a list of adjectives describing her talent diminishes her accomplishments, even if the president said it in an off-the-cuff passing comment.  Harris should be praised for her record, not her physical allure.  Women are not objects who simply exist for male commodification.

Harris is by all accounts a very serious person, tackling important issues, including sex trafficking and the death penalty.  That’s all that matters. Her looks are not relevant to her skills and performance as attorney general and they don’t matter when she is evaluated for how she does her job.  Harris is not a fashion model or a woman up on display.

Good intentions don’t make it right

The president’s remarks, while mild mannered and with no malicious intent, are still problematic because they come in the context of a culture which more often than not values how a woman looks above everything else.  The context of the president’s comments matter both in terms of the public setting with which they were made, and the sexist culture with which they permeate in our collective psyche.

Calling out the president for these remarks doesn’t mean he’s a bad person or even that he is sexist.

As I said before, President Obama is an ally. This past weekend, Melissa Harris-Perry laid out a number of rules on how to be a good ally, which included, “be[ing] open to learning and expanding your consciousness by listening more and talking less.”

There are many allies and Obama supporters who don’t think what the president said is problematic and who think this is all much ado about nothing.  But it’s important to remind people that Attorney General Harris is a smart and successful person based on her merits and there are plenty of other compliments the president could have offered up in that public setting that would not have been inappropriate.

The hope is that Obama is listening and the next time he will simply say, “She’s brilliant and dedicated.  She’s tough,” and stop talking.

Follow Zerlina Maxwell at @ZerlinaMaxwell

inothernews:

nypost:

New York Post front page for Friday, April 5, 2013

New York.  The city so nice, they bribed it twice.

(via jmek)

bilt2tumble:

moniquill:

holzmantweed:

That’s not incompetence, that’s malice.

During the Bush administration, when Republicans had control of both houses, they passed a law that requires the post office to fully fund its pension for 75 years in advance, which effectively freezes most of its money.  If they could fund it, say, 30 years in advance, we’d be talking about the USPS’ profit.

The specific purpose is to render the USPS untenable in order to replace with with private carriers.

reblogging again for that comment

Concise, simple, accurate. Comment gold.

(Source: think-progress, via shangela-lansbury-deactivated20)

(via colepierce)

thegoddamazon:

The Daily Show - 2012-11-15

this is the best thing ever

(Source: booasaur, via laserpanther)

Mitt Romney showed the size of his largess when after losing the election he cut off funding to the credit cards for thousands of his staffers, leaving some stranded and without a revenue source.

Many campaign workers found themselves in restaurants, or cabs with an anxious vendor waiting to be paid and the staffer’s credit cards declined. Mitt Romney left them holding the bag, and he was no longer willing to foot the bill. Some workers found themselves stranded in strange cities across the nation, hundreds or thousands of miles from home, without a penny in their pocket and no plan of action to take next.

This entire scenario is a window into the type of man Mitt Romney is at his core. When there is nothing to lose, and the cameras are not rolling, he is a ruthless individual.

Some members of the Romney staff took it in stride. MSNBC.com reported one staffer who, when asked about the credit cards being cut off, shrugged and said: “Fiscally conservative.”

As is often the case, the perspective of the situation depends on how one looks at the situation.

source

(via ro-s-aspa-rks)

odgw:

in an unfortunate coincidence, mitt romney failed to create a job for himself

(via laserpanther)

ro-s-aspa-rks:

Mitt Romney is sending the supplies he asked supporters to bring to his “non-political” campaign event today — to which Romney invited NASCAR driver Richard Petty — in the battleground state of Ohio, only to victims of Hurricane Sandy in swing states that the GOP candidate has a chance of winning: Virginia, North Carolina, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.

Klassy.

I’m beyond sick of Romney’s shit tactics…

(Source: craneyum)

(Source: theladycheeky)

(Source: lycanpedia, via ro-s-aspa-rks)