Right Wing Nation

When I saw this at Gateway Pundit, I was sure it had to be a joke — until I saw the link to the WaPo story:

The Barack Obama campaign, which has been actively courting the fashion industry, has coordinated some 20 or so designers who are creating official merchandise for the candidate’s Web site. It is the first time, as far as Seventh Avenue long-timers can recall, that a quorum of the fashion industry has organized its financial resources and creative energy around a single presidential candidate.

The mix, available online next month, ranges from T-shirts to tote bags and will lend a bit of runway panache to the Obama brand. The list of participating designers, which includes Derek Lam, Isaac Mizrahi, Tracy Reese, Charles Nolan and Diane von Furstenberg, covers the full spectrum of the market, from high-end to inexpensive. Other names have been bandied about but not confirmed: Beyoncé, Russell Simmons, Michael Bastian, Vera Wang.

You’ve got to be kidding. Oh, but it gets even worse:

And Lam created a cotton muslin bag silk-screened with a carnation print from his first successful collection, spring 2004, which he reworked in red, white and blue. It’s inscribed “A fresh start: Obama ‘09,” and he asked that it be stitched from organic cotton. Lam launched his brand in 2003 and in 2005 created the inaugural ensemble for First Twin Barbara Bush. Typically, his dresses sell for upward of $1,000.

“I knew immediately what I wanted to do. That print had such meaning for me. It brought me luck,” Lam says. “It’s definitely not a Hamptons tote. It’s something you could walk through a green market carrying. Anyone can carry it.”

Nolan remained uncommitted throughout the primary season because his partner, Andrew Tobias, is treasurer for the Democratic National Committee. “We had to stay neutral. People were so passionate,” Nolan says. “But I’m a huge fan of his. His background is just what we need.” Nolan contributed a wrap T-shirt.

His Chelsea studio will be the setting for “Runway to Change,” a cocktail schmooze-fest for the Obama Victory Fund on Sept. 9, a day that lands in the thick of New York’s Fashion Week. The designers have been asked to wear — or in the case of bags, carry — their Obama paraphernalia to the event.

Every day, Obama seems more like he wants to be on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy than in the White House. And his handlers seem to be equally oblivious:

So after completely hedging on the question and declining to give a specific answer — he wants to speak “more generally” about the issue? And, lo and behold, speak more generally he does: “I’m absolutely convinced of is that there is a moral and ethical element to this issue.” In related news, Obama is also “absolutely convinced” that the sky is blue, water is wet and puppies are adorable. None of this, however, tells me a thing about his judgment and moral worldview.

But what bowls me over about how craptacular his answer here is, did no one on his campaign ever anticipate that he would have to talk about abortion, such that he could come up with a better answer than this? Surely they would have had to expect it at this forum in particular.

But I’m sure Obama could speak with great authority about Ralph Lauren.

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