Tom Ridge, Bush’s secretary for Homeland Security and former Governor of Pennsylvania, currently promoting his book in New York, admitted to the New York Post that he and his aides made sure not to select his ties in colours that could be linked to the colour-coded threat level.

He said that “all I wanted was to make sure I didn’t wear an orange or red one.” This has set me thinking about the role of the tie in politics. This extremely perceptive analysis on the subject from the Belfast Newletter points out that politicians, if not voters, seem to think that the colour of a tie makes some kind of statement. And this is the case – as a man in a suit, the one opportunity for the overt display of one’s preferences comes in the choice of tie. Do you, predictably, go for the colour associated with your party? Or, less predictably, with the colour of your opponent’s party? Or with a neutral shade? Or with a daring ‘comedy’ offering? On a slow news day, this kind of thing is all we’ll read about. But is anyone going to associate the colour of a tie with a potentially elevated threat level? Yes. Journalists are.

Of course, this is a dilemma only faced by male politicians. Women (see the reaction to Margaret Thatcher, Hillary Clinton or Sarah Palin for examples) are judged on all aspects of their apparel, not just what they choose to knot around their necks. We know that image is everything, so why not make it easy for the journos to interpret and wear something like this:

No one could be in any doubt as to where you stand. It’s now my dearest wish to see Newt Gingrich in one of these.

Incidentally, this came from a site called ‘tackyobamastuff.com‘. If you want to buy a pair of Obama briefs, or some Obama-head Russian dolls, this is place.

The internet is alive with speculation as to what Michelle Obama will wear for her husband’s inauguration.

For me, the most interesting ramification of this obsession has been the number of beautiful sketches it has spawned from the world’s top fashion designers. It would seem that the Obamas are inspirational far beyond the political realm…

I mean, who cares what kind of president he is as long as they always look this suave?

My favourite for Barack has to be this one:

And I hope Michelle goes for something like this:

Click on the images to see more sketches