The president went there.
POLITICO (“Obama: ‘My jeans fit very well’“):
President Barack Obama on Friday said critics of his “mom jeans” should zip it.
“I’ve been unfairly maligned about my jeans,” Obama told radio host Ryan Seacrest in an interview. “The truth is, generally I look very sharp in jeans. There was one episode like four years ago in which I was wearing some loose jeans, mainly because I was out on the pitcher’s mound and I didn’t want to feel confined while I was pitching, and I think I’ve paid my penance for that. I got whacked pretty good. Since that time, my jeans fit very well.”
Though the joke stems from 2009, when Obama threw out the first pitch at the Major League Baseball All Star Game, the ding resurfaced earlier this month, when Sarah Palin slammed the president as being known for wearing “mom jeans.” Her barb came shortly after Obama was photographed in the White House in jeans while talking on the phone to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the Ukraine crisis.
“People are looking at Putin as one who wrestles bears and drills for oil,” Palin said to Fox News’s Sean Hannity. “They look at our president as one who wears mom jeans and equivocates and bloviates.”
Obama was on the subject of fashion while talking about his recent shopping trip to the Gap in New York City, where he bought his daughters some clothes.
“They thought for a dad, I displayed reasonably good taste,” Obama said. “The bar is fairly low.”
I honestly can’t believe we’re talking about the commander-in-chief’s dungarees. Then again, I suppose it beats what we were talking about when Bill Clinton was in office.
For the record, POTUS is mostly right. The “mom jeans” reputation came about from that opening pitch; it’s the predominant picture that comes up in a Google Image search for “Obama jeans.” Otherwise, he’s mostly wearing jeans that were in style in the 1990s, when “loose fitting” was considered a good thing. I suppose he should update his wardrobe—or kick some old school Levi’s 501s—but not too many 52-year-old men are wearing the latest style. And Obama does have more pressing matters on his plate.
Frankly, if I were going to give him fashion advice vis-a-vis his casual attire, it would be to abandon the jeans and running shoe look. Get some bucks or topsiders, Mr. President.
