On August 28, 2014,

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

held a live press conference on increasing the military response against the

Islamic State An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

(ISIS) in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

while wearing a

tan Tan or TAN may refer to: Businesses and organisations * Black and Tans, a nickname for British special constables during the Irish War of Independence. By extension "Tans" can now also colloquially refer to English or British people in general, es ...

suit A suit, lounge suit, or business suit is a set of clothes comprising a suit jacket and trousers of identical textiles worn with a collared dress shirt, necktie, and dress shoes. A skirt suit is similar, but with a matching skirt instead of tr ...

. Obama's appearance on television in the tan suit sparked significant attention and led to media and social media criticism. The issue remained prominent in the media for several days with the issue being particularly widely discussed on talk shows.

Background

On August 28, 2014, Obama held a press conference about the situation regarding ISIS in Syria, and how the US military was planning to respond to it. At the conference, Obama said that the U.S. had yet to develop a plan regarding the removal of ISIS, and talked extensively about his concerns in the region. During the conference he wore a tan suit, which up until that point was uncommon for Obama to do. The light-colored suit was seen by conservative media outlet

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

as inappropriate due to the gravitas of the subject matter. The controversy was seen in the context of the slow news season before the run-up to the 2014 election campaign. The suit received mixed reviews from a fashion perspective. At the time, the unusual attention given to a male leader's fashion choices was contrasted with that of his 2008 Democratic rival

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

's "regular experience" as a woman in politics.

Immediate response

There was significant backlash from mainly conservative circles. Republican Representative Peter King of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

called Obama's wearing of the suit while talking about the economy instead of terrorism unpresidential, and stated that "There's no way, I don't think, any of us can excuse what the president did yesterday. I mean, you have the world watching." According to Justin Sink of '' The Hill'', most people viewed Obama's fashion choice to be a mistake. Conservative critics of Obama joked about the tan suit, making a play on words of Obama's "yes we can" and "the audacity of hope" phrases into "yes we tan" and "the audacity of taupe." The latter phrase, a take on the title of Obama's presidential campaign book, was recycled from media coverage of a 2010

Oval Office The Oval Office is the formal working space of the President of the United States. Part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, it is located in the West Wing of the White House, in Washington, D.C. The oval-shaped room ...

redecoration by Michael S. Smith which featured a prominent

taupe Taupe ( ) is a dark gray-brown color. The word derives from the French noun ''taupe'' meaning "mole". The name originally referred only to the average color of the French mole, but beginning in the 1940s, its usage expanded to encompass a wide ...

rug and furnishings in similar muted colors, playfully criticized by

Arianna Huffington Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington (née Ariadnē-Anna Stasinopoúlou, el, Αριάδνη-Άννα Στασινοπούλου ; born July 15, 1950) is a Greek-American author, syndicated columnist and businesswoman. She is a co-founder of ''Th ...

among others. Others defended Obama's tan suit. The day after the press conference, White House press secretary

Josh Earnest Joshua Ryan Henry Earnest
''

Fashion designer Joseph Abboud, who had made suits for the president before, praised Obama for the decision, saying that "You don't want to look the same every day of your life. It's boring as hell." Multiple news outlets pointed out how presidents in the past had also worn tan suits, including

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

and

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

. Still others said that the tan suit controversy was overshadowing the greater implications of the conference, and of the U.S. strategy for combating ISIS.

Legacy

Ultimately, the controversy came to be seen as petty and trivial. For Obama, the tan suit controversy became a topic to joke about at future events. During the

presidency of Donald Trump Donald Trump's tenure as the 45th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican from New York City, took office following his Electoral College victory ...

, the tan suit controversy was frequently referred to by Trump critics to draw a contrast between Obama and Trump. These critics contrasted the attention devoted to this trivial issue under the Obama administration with various examples of Trump's actions that broke more substantial political norms while generating less coverage, and argued that the episode illustrated how Obama's presidency was covered in comparison to Trump's. During the week of Obama's 60th birthday, and near the seven-year anniversary of Obama's tan suit incident, President Joe Biden wore a tan suit for a press conference, which was widely reported as a jab at the initial controversy. On September 7, 2022, at an event honoring Obama's official portraits unveiled at the White House, Barack Obama joked about the tan suit incident.

References

External links

August 28, 2014, ''Statement by the President''

August 28, 2014, White House blog post
by Tanya Somanader {{Barack Obama Obama administration controversies 2014 controversies in the United States Clothing controversies Individual suits

Background

Immediate response

Legacy

See also

References

External links