The White House is no stranger to controversies, some which can haunt a president long after they leave the Oval Office (ask Bill Clinton about 1998).
But for former President Barack Obama, one of his most contentious moments was not a sex scandal or international arms deal.
It was a tan suit.
During a press conference Aug. 28, 2014 − 10 years ago today − Obama addressed the U.S. military response to ISIS, saying then, “We don’t have a strategy yet.” The discussion was serious, the developments highly anticipated.
And the suit-related outrage was immediate.
“He looked like he was on his way to a party at the Hamptons,” Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., told CNN at the time.
Today, most − including Obama − make light of the incident.
“Ten years ago today: President Barack Obama appeared at a White House press conference wearing a tan suit. A TAN SUIT,” CIA official and presidential briefer David Priess wrote humorously on X. “This was, and remains, the greatest scandal in presidential history—if not in all of human history.”
Here’s what to know about “tan suitgate.”
The tan suit backlash dominated headlines
It wasn’t just lawmakers weighing in 10 years ago.
Social media and fashion commentators alike had their own takes on Obama’s attire.
“Khaki is a sort of wishy-washy color,” wrote New York Times chief fashion critic Vanessa Friedman, hence “… a particularly odd choice for a discussion of wishy-washy military policy.”
One then-Twitter user conjectured, “Obama’s tan suit is a signal. We just need to figure out *what he’s trying to tell us*”
The White House response at the time: “He loves that suit.”
So, why the controversy?
In a world where dark suits are the protocol, Obama taupe attire caught eyes and ire.
Some right-wing commentators were especially critical of Obama for wearing the tan suit at a news conference held to discuss one of the more pressing national security issues at the time — the prospect of escalating the U.S. military response to the Islamic State, or ISIS, in Syria.
“I think it was shocking to a lot of people,” opined Lou Dobbs, at the time a widely watched Fox Business Network host.
The outfit was also outside Obama’s typical realm of grey or blue suits, making it stand out all the more.
“You have the whole world watching, you have a week, two weeks of anticipation of what the United States is going to do and then for him to walk out – I’m not trying to be trivial here – but in a light suit, light tan suit,” King said in a different interview with Newsmax, “saying that first he wants to talk about what most Americans care about, and he said that’s the vision of the second-quarter numbers on the economy.”
What has Obama said since?
Ahead of Obama’s penultimate State of the Union in 2015, his White House Twitter account posted that the president was “suiting up for the big speech” − with the cheeky hashtag, “#YesWeTan.”
And in the decade since, Obama has made regular quips referencing the suit.
“Let me start out by saying that I was sorely tempted to wear a tan suit today,” the former president said in opening his final press conference in 2017.
“But Michelle, whose fashion sense is a little better than mine, tells me that’s not appropriate in January,” he added.
More recently, social media speculation sparked when Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise stage appearance on night one of the Democratic convention − in a brown suit.
In a post both acknowledging the anniversary and passing the torch to Harris, Obama included a throwback photo of himself in the infamous suit alongside one of Harris at the convention.
