Tan Suit-Gate: A 10-year Revisit to Obama’s Strangest Controversy

Aug. 28, 2014, is a day that has gone down in infamy. The absolute unthinkable happened that rocked American politics forever: former President Barack Obama wore a tan suit to a press conference.

Yes, you read that right, a tan suit. Conservatives across the nation lost their minds over this “egregious” act. An act that some still haven’t forgiven him for to this very day. It’s a one-sided feud that became an iconic meme and an interesting case study. Who cares if he wore a tan suit?

It all started when Obama held a live press conference at the White House in which he discussed his decision to increase military response in the Middle East. He attended the briefing in a tan suit, which deviated from his usual arsenal of black, gray, and navy suits.

Rather than focusing on the content of his statements, right-wing politicians and media focused on the suit and only the suit. The act of wearing a tan suit at a briefing focused on terrorism rubbed many conservatives the wrong way.

U.S. Rep. Peter King even stated, “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.” He also deemed it as “unpresidential” even though former presidents Ronald Reagan and Dwight Eisenhower wore tan suits during their times in the Oval Office.

Now there are many clear fashion rules that we know to abide by, such as not wearing white to a wedding unless you’re the bride or the rule of thumb that black goes with everything. But the tan suit oddity has transcended fashion rules and was even called by a partisan commentator, “the WORST thing a sitting president has ever done.” While this might seem dramatic, Fox News was genuinely upset about Obama wearing a tan suit.

“A common trend in American political discourse over the past few decades has been to foster resentment at the opposition party,” says Dr. Thomas Salek, Assistant Professor of Communication here at Elmhurst University.

Salek is well-versed in the ever-changing world of American politics and political rhetoric and has an extensive background in public relations. His experience allows us to gain a unique perspective on the cultural significance of the tan suit scandal, 10 years later.

The tan suit scandal has spawned endless jokes and memes across late-night television and social media, but he notes how it is indicative of 21st-century politics. Modern-day politics have devolved into character attacks and criticisms rather than conversations with substance regarding real issues.

“From a presidential communication perspective, the remarks are not particularly noteworthy, nor did they have a whole lot of news value. Instead of covering the actual substance of the news conference, which was relatively benign, conservative politicians and pundits attacked Obama’s fashion choice,” Salek says, explaining how the tan suit quickly silenced the rather unremarkable statements made at the press conference.

It’s a given that many Americans remember the suit, but not what was discussed at the briefing. He identifies how criticism surrounding the suit is a clear-cut example of one of the many ways members of opposing political parties focus on slandering the opposite side rather than having a thoughtful debate on real issues.

Discussing policy isn’t exactly what goes viral on social media, but making a “witty” insult aimed at your opponent is.

“Instead of wanting to debate substance, politicians, and pundits from both sides of the aisle find something meaningless to attack and make this their focal point,” Salek explains. “While this may create a trending topic on social media, faux controversies like these cheapen our political discourse, switching politics from substance to spectacle.”

While the laughs are fun, the switch from substance to spectacle has never been more evident than today. Modern-day headlines are filled with jabs and taunts from one party to the other, each headline more bizarre than the last.

Instances such as the tan suit scandal only continue to give Americans insight into the “lack of depth of many political conversations” as Salek describes it. The color of a suit shouldn’t cause outrage, but here we are.

Just for fun, I asked Salek his thoughts on Kamala Harris wearing a tan suit on the first day of the Democratic National Convention, which was held Aug. 19-22. While he cannot speak on whether Harris wore the tan suit deliberately, he makes a great case for the role gender plays when it comes to how the media draws attention to a candidate’s outfit.

“Commentary about Harris’s fashion choices demonstrates how gender tends to dictate news coverage of candidates. When Clinton was running for president in 2008 and 2016, many commentators focused on what she wore. The same thing goes with other female politicians.” He explains, remarking on the role fashion has played in the careers of female politicians, but is noticeably absent for male politicians.

“This kind of critique is rare for male politicians,” Salek pointed out. “That’s another part of the faux controversy about the tan suit, very rarely do members of the media comment or care about what a male politician wears.”

While we may see some fashion jabs towards male politicians today, it isn’t a common occurrence, which is what makes Obama’s tan suit controversy an interesting case study into the unpredictable nature of American politics.

Luckily, the tan suit scandal never stopped Obama, as he is the first person to poke fun at it today. He posted on Instagram a side-by-side picture of his suit next to Harris’s DNC suit with the caption, “How it started. How it’s going. Ten years later, and it’s still a good look! #IWillVote.com.”

Let this be a lesson to you: when life knocks you down, just get up, brush off your tan suit, and keep going. If Obama could do it, you can too.