Jeff Greenfield, Brought to you By Brooks Brothers
I mean, how else do you explain this garbage other than Jeff Greenfield is pitching for an end to business casual:
The senator was in New Hampshire over the weekend, sporting what’s getting to be the classic Obama look. Call it business casual, a jacket, a collared shirt, but no tie.
It is a look the senator seems to favor. And why not? It is dressy enough to suggest seriousness of purpose, but without the stuffiness of a tie, much less a suit. There is a comfort level here that reflects one of Obama’s strongest political assets, a sense that he is comfortable in his own skin, that he knows who he is.
If you want a striking contrast, check out Senator John Kerry as he campaigned back in 2004. He often appeared without a tie, but clad in a blazer, the kind of casual look you see at country clubs and lawn parties in the Hamptons and other toned (ph) locations.
When President Bush wanted in casual mode, he skipped the jacket entirely. Third-generation Skull and Bones at Yale? Don’t be silly. Nobody here but us Texas ranchers.
You can think of Bush’s apparel as a kind of homage to Ronald Reagan. He may have spent much of his life in Hollywood, but the brush-cutting ranch hand was the image his followers loved, just as the Kennedy sea ferry look provided a striking contrast with, say, Richard Nixon, who apparently couldn’t even set out on a beach walk without that “I wish I had spent more time at the office” look.
But, in the case of Obama, he may be walking around with a sartorial time bomb. Ask yourself, is there any other major public figure who dresses the way he does? Why, yes. It is Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who, unlike most of his predecessors, seems to have skipped through enough copies of “GQ” to find the jacket-and-no-tie look agreeable.
And maybe that’s not the comparison a possible presidential contender really wants to evoke.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GREENFIELD: Now, it is one thing to have a last name that sounds like Osama and a middle name, Hussein, that is probably less than helpful. But an outfit that reminds people of a charter member of the axis of evil, why, this could leave his presidential hopes hanging by a thread. Or is that threads? — Wolf.
If you dress business casual, the terrorists have won.
Truly silly people.
H/T TPM
December 12th, 2006 at
Now that Obama’s true leanings have been exposed by this insightful critique of his dress, can we have a serious conversation about why Obama hates America?
Somebody should tell the bosses–I’ll do Greenfield’s job for half the pay.
Lately it feels like we’re inside a very satirical book or play.
December 12th, 2006 at
This is what happens when you get too “hot” too early.
Everyone wants to do stories about Obama, but there just isn’t that much to say for the moment.
December 13th, 2006 at
What a jackass.
Did Greenfield complain about Bush rolling up his sleeves one roll too many while telling America that Brownie was doing a heckuva job?
The button down shirt with jacket but sans tie is the in political look these days. Pollsters must think it makes the guys look approachable. Bush has been known to do it on occasion too.
And did anyone else catch the irony of the fact Greenfield was babbling on about “Iraq Hussein Osama” with a guy named “Shotgun Howitzer”?
And don’t even get me started about brown socks and their implications for Middle Eastern policy, let alone the state of boxers vs. briefs in the debate over nuclear proliferation on the Indian sub-continent.
How did I get Greenfield’s paycheck? I can rattle off inconsequential gobbledy-gook twice as long as him — and I’m younger and better looking (in my jacket and shirt… but no tie).
December 13th, 2006 at
[...] Greenfield is arguing the blogs don’t get his humor. He thinks it was just poor delivery and that the bloggers didn’t get his joke. [...]