Saying a woman is attractive is usually a compliment. Not so much in politics, where any reference by a male officeholder to a female’s physical appearance can be poisonous.
Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin found that out in the closing hours of the 2014 election cycle. The four-decade Iowa member of Congress, retiring after the end of the year, was trying to boost the chances of the Democratic nominee to succeed him, Rep. Bruce Braley. Harkin took what was clearly intended as a backhanded compliment – at best – of the Republican candidate, state Sen. Joni Ernst.
Harkin said that Iowa voters shouldn’t be fooled because Joni Ernst is “really attractive” and “sounds nice.”
"In this Senate race, I’ve been watching some of these ads,” Harkin told a Democratic gathering. “And there’s sort of this sense that, 'Well, I hear so much about Joni Ernst. She is really attractive, and she sounds nice.'"
"Well I gotta to thinking about that. I don’t care if she’s as good looking as Taylor Swift or as nice as Mr. Rogers, but if she votes like Michele Bachmann, she’s wrong for the state of Iowa."
Not surprisingly, Republicans pounced on what they called Harkin’s sexist remarks. “Fossilized Democrat Tom Harkin patronizes Joni Ernst,” went a headline on the conservative site Breitbart.com.
Harkin isn’t the first politician to face heat over praising a female colleague’s appearance. Even if they really mean it as a compliment, as President Barack Obama did in talking up California Attorney General Kamala Harris at an April 2013 fundraiser in Northern California. Harris, the president said, is “by far, the best looking attorney general," after praising the quality of her work.
This time criticism came from Obama’s own ideological side. “It's a shame to see him undermine his enlightened policies with comments that highlight women's ever-present decorative duties,” feminist writer Amanda Marcotte intoned. “Especially when we know for a fact that such remarks erode women's opportunities and even their own sense of deserving equality.”