On Joe Biden and Conservative Fashion Fascination [View All]

[babylonsister]

On Joe Biden and Conservative Fashion Fascination

http://open.salon.com//blog/saturn_smith/2010/07/06/on_joe_biden_and_conservative_fashion_fascination


I do strive to be All Things Joe Biden, All the Time here. So even when Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic says he's not going to blog about "the suit Joe Biden wore in Iraq, which struck me as unserious," I am going to blog about his non-blog mention of this idea in his blog.

Ahem.


White House photo / by David Lienemann

There's a picture of the suit at right. Basically what we have here is a Vice President who arrived in Iraq to greet troops on the Fourth of July in a tan-colored suit with a dark blue striped tie over a white shirt. As far as I can tell, he's wearing appropriately formal shoes with this suit. Now, from Goldberg's non-blog, I was expecting a tie-dyed suit with, perhaps, a BAKE SALES NOT BOMBERS bumpersticker sewed to the back, or perhaps no suit at all, a la The Onion:

That's not what happened. Instead, Joe Biden went to Iraq in a khaki suit, and thank God Jeffrey Goldberg isn't going to blog about the lack of seriousness that implies, because, as it turns out, a whole bunch of other people regularly appear in Iraq wearing khaki attire, as well:



Perhaps it's the fashion faux pas of everyone wearing the same thing that Goldberg objects to?

Seriously, though: I'm tired of the conservative meme where President Obama or Vice President Biden or anyone at the White House is said to be "unserious" or lacking in gravitas or disrespectful of their office or the troops or whatever. First it was the shirtsleeves in the Oval Office thing. Then it was the feet on the desk thing. Now it's, what, a khaki suit in hundred-degree weather? What's next?

There are two ways to respond to this. The first is the most popular: hey, remember the times when George W. Bush showed up in no suit at all?

The second, and more constructive, method is to invite those who want to challenge the president's and vice president's seriousness as politicians and leaders to actually say it, instead of hinting about it, not-blogging about it, or hiding behind criticism of sartorial choices when they can't come up with something more concrete with which to make their point. At least be brave enough to say what you mean, instead of making everyone else guess that you believe these men aren't capable of dressing themselves, let alone leading the country.

I know liberals were guilty of this, too, during George W. Bush's term. We often picked on his, ah, manner of speech in place of outright saying, we think this man is too dumb to be president. It's easier to do that than to come right out and say what you mean, I know, and it's also more fun. Good grief, though, maybe if we'd been more up front about our concerns -- instead of sniping like the English majors we all apparently are -- 2004 could have been a more civil discussion of what it takes to be a leader than a contest that ended up looking like shirts/elites v. skins/C-students from Yale.

I'm just saying: say what you mean, folks. It's not that hard.