On its Web site, GQ Magazine asks the burning question, "Has the Capital Gotten Cooler Under Obama?" The magazine says yes and no. But when it comes to Barack Obama and Co., you'll be relieved to know that the answer is a resounding YES!! In a slide show, we learn that Obama is "our best-dressed prez since JFK. When he goes tieless, Ahmadinejad should take notice." On Obama in jeans, "the loose fit seems presidential."
Also lookin' good to GQ is Joe Biden: "The veep has terrific style. He deftly mixes colors and patterns with his shirts and ties, and his superb Hickey Freeman suits fit impeccably." Senator John Kerry (D-MA) "looks best when dressing like the patrician he is. Super 180s suits and Hermès ties—senators ought to look senatorial." Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is "groovier than his usual banker attire would suggest. . . He goes for cool detail, like green ties on Saint Paddy's. And he has a thing for Panama hats." Senator Roland Burris (D-IL) has "a sharp eye for detail and a suave color sense."
Representative John Conyers (D-MI) is a "clotheshorse" who is "a lifetime sartorial achiever." Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY) "can match sartorial splendor with Sean Combs and purples with Prince. . . " We're told of Representative Anthony Weiner (D-NY): "The dapper former roommate of Jon Stewart could almost pass for European." And who wouldn't want to pass for European? When it comes to speechwriter Jon Favreau, "Obama's golden boy of letters epitomizes style's new wave in D.C."
Even Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, not ostensibly a slave to fashion, qualifies for some gushing:
The sec of the interior ought to wear forty-liter hats and string ties. As a Coloradan, he's got the right, and the cabinet should somewhat resemble the Village People, don't you think?
Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele, by contrast, just doesn't make the cut: "The Republican Party czar looks suitably stiff in that boxy high-cut jacket." Representative John Boehner gets the full GQ treatment:
The minority leader just looks vain. His radioactive tan appears sprayed on, his bronze hair never strays, and his ties glow in W Hotel colors against his white button-downs. Oh, and it's pronounced bay-ner, not boner.
Representative Aaron Schock (R-IL), characterized by GQ as the "GOP's only hope for youthful charisma" gets slapped: "Though, looking at him, we can't help but think of James Bond's quip that the Windsor knot is the sign of a cad."
Only last month, the magazine named Obama its "Leader of the Year." His administration and approval ratings might be crumbling, but at least at GQ, the news for him is always good.
