Dick Cheney – US Fashion Prince

Let’s be clear up front. I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a clothes guy. Here in Bolivia my daily wardrobe selection is pretty simple. Which pair of jeans is clean, which blue shirt is visibly the least in need of ironing, and which of my two pair of sneakers do I want to wear?

The Vice-President of the United States, however, well that must be a good deal more complex. This morning my wife Lynn (who bails me out of badly matched clothing choices on those rare occasions when I have to venture out into the world of suits) brought my attention to a little article in today’s Washington Post about Dick Cheney’s odd selection of wardrobe for yesterday’s somber ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. Here are some snippets:

“The vice president, however, was dressed in the kind of attire one typically wears to operate a snow blower. Cheney stood out in a sea of black-coated world leaders because he was wearing an olive drab parka with a fur-trimmed hood. It is embroidered with his name. It reminded one of the way in which children's clothes are inscribed with their names before they are sent away to camp. Like other attendees, the vice president was wearing a hat. But it was not a fedora or a Stetson or a fur hat or any kind of hat that one might wear to a memorial service as the representative of one's country. Instead, it was a knit ski cap, embroidered with the words "Staff 2001." It was the kind of hat a conventioneer might find in a goodie bag.”

But really, what you want to see is the photo. Really, take a look. You can find the article and the photo here.

Dick Cheney has a wife named Lynn also, but I guess that she either likes to let him go out looking like a goof or knows better than to make any suggestions to him of any sort (I bet it is the latter). I guess the guy figured:

“I am the Vice President (actually, the President, sort of) of the most powerful country on Earth. I have been reelected and I am never running for office again. If these stupid Europeans (who generally tick me off anyway) are so lame as to plant their countries where it is butt-freezing cold in January, that is their problem. I am at least going to dress to be comfortable.”

So it goes with US image building around the world.