Why Twitter Can't Stop Talking About Joe Biden's Tan Suit

Joe Biden made a speech today on ... something or other. The economy, most likely, since it's always the economy. That's pretty much the man's job, after all, giving speeches on a near-daily basis while the eyes of the world are upon him. Well, one thing — in fact, perhaps the main thing — that the world noticed this time was what Biden was wearing. At first glance, his suit might not have seemed too terribly interesting. Tan, after all, is, like, the official color of boring. No knock on Biden himself! It's the suit, or rather the color, that we're characterizing as dull; Joe's as full of life as ever.

Those with long memories, however, were quick to remind everyone else of why Biden's suit may have looked so familiar. As the New York Post reports, the suit is pretty similar to one worn by Barack Obama when he, too, delivered a speech about the economy back in August of 2014 (via YouTube). Obama drew a surprising amount of flack for his fashion choice, with one Republican senator saying it indicated the president's "lack of seriousness" and other critics piling on to the point where the episode was soon being referred to as "tan suit gate." Well, it's a whole new world now, and this time around, the tan suit is getting all the love on Twitter.

The twitterati are all here for that suit! After all, what's not to love about a blast back to our pre-pandemic past? When a CBS news reporter tweeted a shot of Biden and Obama twinning, one person referenced Time reporter Molly Ball's original "audacity of taupe" tweet while another said "Obama still wore it better. But thank you Joe." Someone posted a photo of Mitch McConnell also wearing tan, to which someone else promptly replied "Nope. Doesnt suit him."

While there were a few cranks such as the one who complained "Joe Biden looks terrible in a tan suit," for the most part the suit and its wearer got a big Twitter thumbs-up with comments like "Loving this tan suit. Way to go @POTUS" and "Love your hard work, AND your tan suit! Keep it up!" as well as the pun-tastic "YES, WE TAN!!!"

A number of Twitter users credited Biden for the sly sense of humor it took to resurrect the scandalous suit color, saying, "I know @POTUS is trolling Fox News but damm he looks good doing it" and "Love you @POTUS. You know how to throw the best shade." Love for the suit seemed to dominate the day's political discourse, so who knows? Perhaps there's still some "taupe" left for a divided nation, after all.