On yesterday's "The View," Joy Behar, one of the fearsome female foursome asked Obama about the new finding that he is related to Brad Pitt. Obama answered, "I guess we're ninth cousins removed or something.. .I think he got the better-looking side of the gene pool."
Barbara Walters then said, "Can I say this? ...We find you very sexy looking." Catcalls and cheers from the audience ensued.
I wish Whoopie had spoken up because she, for one, seemed a little disgusted.
Why did Walters feel the need to say she finds Obama sexy? He's running for President, right? He's not a movie star. And when you contrast Walters' words to how Hillary Clinton has been derogatorily sexualized in the media, how a brief show of cleavage on CSpan led her to being condemned by a female journalist in the Washington Post and how she is constantly criticized for her "unfeminine" appearance, this vote of approval for Obama's appealing sexuality by a respected woman journalist such as Barbara Walters just reeks of sexism, of how Hillary Clinton has been treated so negatively by the media because she is a woman. Think of it this way: a male TV speaking-head has never and would never call Hillary Clinton "sexy". Hillary Clinton is expected to desexualize herself, her image, otherwise she would not be taken seriously as a presidential candidate, and yet she is condemned for not being feminine enough. Yet Obama gets himself called "very sexy looking" on national TV by Barbara Walters.
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