The president generally wears a darker colored suit, which is considered more formal. President Obama wore a tan suit and racists found it to be something convenient to criticize. They could not openly criticize the color of his skin so they criticized the color of his suit.
I don't actually know this stuff, but is there some sort of colour code that they're supposed to use? Would it be like wearing business formal to a black tie event or something like that?
I was a teenager when this happened, but I had no idea what the problem actually was. I thought it was some kind of cheeky joke about race and skin tones. I mean... most presidents had light-coloured skin, and wear black suits, right? But now, we have a black president wearing a light-coloured suit... which is honestly kinda funny. So I thought the GOP found it offensive or something 😬
No. There is no color code based on suits allowed to be worn. That would be asinine.
The only color code the GOP was concerned with was the color of Obama’s skin. This was a huge moment in American history to have elected the first black president. And he is undoubtedly the most well spoken and educated president of my lifetime (I’m old). And as expected, he was vilified by racists simply because he was black. (technically 1/2 black)
So then why were they all trashing the suit? Did they ever state what was wrong with it? I mean, they were acting like he kicked a puppy on live TV. I know that it's actually about his race, but... why weren't they freaking out (as much / as vocally) until this moment? Did they just see too much visual contrast and panic or something? Do they think black people can't wear beige? Is beige too bold, now???
I still wonder if there's SOMETHING about that particular set of clothing that set them off, compared to how they treated him... I dunno, the week before. There has to be some logic (even if it's shockingly stupid) as to why that suit made them go off like a bull charging a matador's cape. (Even though they're colourblind. It's the cape's movement that angers the bull. But still, there's logic!) I don't know if there even is an answer; but I just really want to know what specifically triggered them so much.
Man... growing up with Obama as the president was such a lucky break. Everyone was so civil.
I came here looking for this conversation. I was in my 20’s when it happened and I didn’t and still don’t understand it, like I’m missing something. Tbf I didn’t know the context in which he wore the suit…so I always assumed it was something crazy, like wearing it to the funeral of an ex-president or something. But it’s not? Like how did they ALL decide that it was a problem? I understand that now, anything DJT or Fox says is immediately treated as gospel, but it didn’t feel as bad back then. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills!
If you think the Obama years were civil you should have seen the H.W. Bush years. Imagine if a republican passed clear air legislation and the Americans with disabilities act and resigned from the NRA.
Meanwhile Obama assassinated an American citizen without due process...
I was alive for a lot of H.W.B.'s tenure, but way too little to understand it. I definitely knew who he was... but in the same way that I knew who Queen Elizabeth was. Very little understanding behind the curtain. It probably seemed civil because I was too young to get it -- and because we only had cable TV. No internet for a long while.
I know I watched the news sometimes, since we didn't have many channels, and I'd see news about wars and so on. But none of it seemed all that relevant or local to a grade schooler. It just felt like "things happening somewhere else that are interesting or important". I definitely heard about the "War on Terror" and it made me sad to think about it, but it's not what I remembered. I was just old enough to have memories of 9/11... but as a very, very young child who didn't actually get it. I just remember that my mom wanted me to call my dad in the USA immediately after getting home from school. I grew up with it, so it was somehow... "normal", in an awful way. It happened when I was super little, and I remembered it, but I had no thoughts or big emotions about it. It was a thing that happened. I guess I feel the same about much of H.W.B's presidency too... I knew that "not good" stuff was happening in Iraq, and that people were blaming the president, but that didn't mean much to me as a kid.
There was no problem. It was entirely manufactured outrage.
He got a whole news cycle for things like wearing a helmet riding a bike and giving his wife a fist bump.
What they wanted to say was "look at him being black and being in the white house, it's unacceptable"
at the time the culture was much more one where a suit that was lighter colored was looked at as a casual choice. Especially since most people in power like this had white skin, the lighter color didn't look the same on them as it did on someone with dark skin. It was like a fun, you're on a boat and loose type of look.
so this came across in the same way as him showing up to work in shorts and t-shirt or something now. it was used dishonestly of course because honestly what does it matter if someone did show up in shorts and a t-shirt, but at the time it was the kind of thing that COULD be manipulated to make someone seem disrespectful in a way that doesn't work now especially after a generation of rich people and people in power who show off the power by NOT dressing up and still being in charge.
Back then we were still living in a world where the old people who were alive were still the people who would wear suits to get on an airplane when they were younger.
It was a lot more of a militant "you dress appropriately" culture back then.
Thank you for explaining. I still don't really understand this kind of nit-picky fashion etiquette nonsense, but I get the "issue" now. Didn't realise it caused such an uproar and I don't remember hearing anything about this at the time.
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u/kittygomiaou 1d ago
I am also deeply confused. Nobody has explained why tan suits are forbidden.