Former president Barack Obama has turned a decade-old controversy over his fashion choices into a meme in support of Democratic Party presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
On Wednesday, Obama leveraged the classic “how it started, how it’s going” meme format with a photo of himself from August 28, 2014 and another of Harris from the first day of the Democratic National Convention earlier this month.
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In the first photo, Obama is pictured wearing a tan suit, an ensemble that sparked outrage amongst conservative commentators who said that the light color of the suit was more appropriate for drinking sundowners and schmoozing in the Hamptons than giving a White House press conference about efforts to defeat the terrorist group ISIS. However, he was far from the first president to opt for a light-colored suit in the summertime: William Howard Taft, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Gerald Ford were all photographed at work in lighter shades.
So when Harris made a surprise appearance on night one of the DNC wearing an impeccably fit camel-colored Chloé suit? A certain corner of social media, a slice that is both political and petty, lost their minds. “Galaxy mode,” one called the choice. “Epic shade!” said another. “Greatest move of the year,” said yet another. Meanwhile, on Chloé’s website, separates in the same fabric are billed as being “coconut brown,” in what is either uncanny synergy or a smart, swift branding move.
In a race where the details are meticulously planned and closely analyzed, Harris opting for a tan suit in her first appearance at the convention—a break from tradition in itself, as the candidate does not typically take the stage or speak until the final night of the gathering—didn’t go unnoticed by audiences with recent memories of Obama’s two terms in office. While Harris isn’t donning armor-like looks a la Michelle Obama, she’s surely using her wardrobe to send messages of her own.
And Barack Obama? He’s got those memes on lock, sharing the same photo collage to his Instagram Story on Wednesday as well, just to make sure no one missed it.
“10 years later, and it’s still a good look!” he wrote, including a link to IWillVote.org, which redirects to an ActBlue page soliciting donations for Harris’s campaign.
