Speaker 1: I'm JAPISPINNI glrad you with us in this third in
hour of today's program. We've been trying to squeeze an
eighty pounds show into a forty pound bag.
Speaker 2: We're getting it in there.
Speaker 1: Let's see we can squeeze in two more conversations in
this hour. On the backside of this hour, actor and
musician Michael v. Epps aka Mikey talks about the end
of the highly acclaimed series The Shy where he played
Jake Taylor. So we'll talk to Michael Vipps about the
shot speaking of Curtis Mayfield in the city of Chicago.
A nice little I like that. That was nice, Miles,
very nice. So we'll talk about that on the backside
of there. In a moment, we'll be joined by Lynn Sweet,
former Washington d c Bual chief and now special correspondent
for the Chicago Sun Times. Let her explain how her
lighthearted search for President Obama's tan suit as we opened
a serious debate about the consequential effect of that twenty
fourteen press comments where he donned that haberdasury and was
talking about foreign policy in how all of the impacts
his foreign policy legacy all these years later amazing what
a suit can do.
Speaker 2: If you saw many of you did.
Speaker 1: You watched the opening of the Obama I guess it's
not a library Presidential Center.
Speaker 2: I guess they call it.
Speaker 1: If you saw the opening of that carried by sea,
spanning other networks, then you saw the jokes being made
about the tan suit.
Speaker 2: There are a number of people who showed up.
Speaker 1: David Letterman, and I think David Letterman and Stephen Colbert
and the MC of the program, Obama's longtime friend all
had on tan suits. And so the tan suit jokes
were in full force on the day of the opening
of the Presidental Center. So we have still not moved
past the jokes and the commentary about the tan suit
back in twenty fourteens. We'll let Lyn explain how she
got what her on rant was to the tan suit,
and again a discussion about his foreign policy. Before I
do any of that, here's a funny clip from Larry
David show. It's called Life Larry in the Pursuit of Unhappiness.
Little Larry David skate here about the tan suit all
these years later. Take a listen, Hey, you know what,
I got an idea that just might interest you.
Speaker 2: What's your idea.
Speaker 1: I think you should wear the tan suit to the
press conference.
Speaker 2: For this press conference.
Speaker 3: Yes, why well, first of all, it's a gorgeous.
Speaker 2: Suit, and that's why I'm taking to turn. There's a
daytime event. It's outdoors a little more casual, and this
is casual Friday. Hi, Brian, the Boss wants to try
on the Tan suit. I do love this suit. It's
perfect casual and it's in the briefing room. Is that
the east room? Thank you? Oh it is a great suit.
Oh boy, oh boy, I think this is the move.
I'm gonna try that. See how it looks. Oh, let's
foldle you down. You'll thank me.
Speaker 1: All these years later, still jokes, including Obama himself leaning
in on the Tan suit line.
Speaker 2: Sweet could do your voice? How are you today, Tavis?
Speaker 3: It's an honor to be with you today. Thanks for
having me, my pleasure.
Speaker 1: I've got two minutes right now to sort of set
this up, two or three minutes when we come forward.
We'll spend the rest of the half hour sort of
unpacking it. But tell me about, as I said, your
lighthearted search for this Tan suit and how that has
led to yet another serious conversation a consequential conversation about
his foreign policy.
Speaker 3: And we could all have both in one You know,
we could all do a few things at one time, lighthearted, serious,
in a nutshell. When I went to a press preview
on the Obama Center opening, the question came up from
a reporter to one of the executives, what do you
wish was here that you don't have? And Michael strattonan
has said the Tan suit. And then Valerie Jarrett, the
CEO of the Obama Foundation, shocked us when she said
Obama gave it away when he was cleaning out his closet.
That was my starting point for this project.
Speaker 2: Tell me a bit more about the project.
Speaker 3: So I'm supposed to find the Tan suit. Now, as
I say, to quote myself, I could find you a
needle in a haystack tablet, but I don't even know
where the haystack is on this one. I've been in
the business one hundred years. Here, Yeah, I could find stuff,
but give me a clue here. It's like you know
which grain of sand on the beach are we're talking about.
But I also understood that sometimes in a project, the
journey is the destination. The anniversary of the Tan suit
press conferences next week August twenty eight. And it's not
just me thinking there's interest in the suit. Martin Nesbud,
who you mentioned, even Colbert, who actually asked Obama when
he was at the museum before a show ended, wears
the tanned suit and then lo and behold the Larry
David spoof with Obama happy to play himself in that
tan suit. And so everyone understands, I'm looking for the
real Tan suit, the Tan suit, and that HBO show
is a replica.
Speaker 1: So I love that Lynn Sweet is in a search
to find the real Tan suit. I'm just laughing at
the fact that the anniversary of the Tan suit is
August twenty eighth. You know what else happened on August
twenty eighth, Think about it, Think about it, think about it.
We'll talk about that though at that part when we
come forward. But of all the things that happened on
August twenty eighth in this country historic date, August twenty eight,
we're still talking about the tan suit that he wore
on August twenty eighth. That's how we do it here
on Tavis Smile does Indeed, with Lynn Sweet, former a
DC Real chief now I'm a special corresponding for Chicago
Sun Times. She's been on a project. She is trying
to find that tan suit that Barack Obama wore back
in twenty fourteen at a press conference when the Obama
Center opened. There were all kind of jokes about the
tan suit. We just played a clip for you in
case you tuned in you missed it. Obama played himself
in a clip a spoof on Larry David's show Life
Larry in the Pursuit of Unhappiness, Obama shows up playing
himself in a joke about the tan suit. You heard
Lynn Sweet say that next week, August twenty eighth is
the anniversary of Obama wearing the tan suit in twenty fourteen.
But the minute she said that, you know, being a
history buff, my mind went to that same date. Here's
what else happened on August twenty eighth, and I'll get
back to Lynn. In nineteen fifty five, they killed Emmitt
Till on August twenty.
Speaker 3: Eighth, Oh my god.
Speaker 2: In nineteen sixty three, the March on Washington. I have
a dream.
Speaker 1: The speech from Doctor King happens on August twenty eight.
On August twenty eight, two thousand and eight.
Speaker 2: I was there.
Speaker 1: Barack Obama accepts the nomination for President of the United
States at the Democratic Convention in Denver. That was August
twenty eight, two thousand and eight. Then he wears the
Tan suit on August twenty eight, twenty fourteen. Before I
go any further, Lynn, what do you make of that
history on August twenty eighth?
Speaker 3: Oh whoa, thank you for reminding me, because I'm going
to do another I have some other stories to do
and I will that will run on the twenty seventh
or twenty eight. And Tavis, I am grateful that you
told me that, and certainly, being a Chicago reporter, I
well know the story of Emmett Till. Oh yeah, and
the great effort now to keep Emmett Till's story alive
with the establishment of a National Historic Park in the
city and other ways of making his history a living
a living history for the people who are alive now.
So no, but thank you. I was there too in
Denver in two thousand and eight.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, A lot happened on that date, August twenty eighth,
and so when LeAnn reminded me that next week is
the anniversary of the Tan suit.
Speaker 2: My mind immediately went to all.
Speaker 1: The historic things that happened on that particular date. So
there's that take it and run with it as you will.
So let me get back to your search for the
Tan suit. So when Valuidjera says the President gave the
suit away, I assume we believe that Validera was being
truthful about that. So what does your search take you? Like,
where do you begin trying to locate the Tan suit.
Speaker 2: So so.
Speaker 3: Now it turns out, by the way, that in June third,
when she briefed reporters, she knew that the replica suit
existed for the show because they taped that HBO show
in December. But if they had the original suit, and
I'm going to be talking to people from the show
hopefully tomorrow, and if he had the original suit in
the closet, they wouldn't have had a costume designer recreate
one for the show. So I have also learned that
he gives away suits he cleans out of closet. Now,
maybe this is a Tan suit. One Obama World insider,
and this is a hypothesis, thought he threw it away
because he didn't want to wear it again. Because if
everyone's just going to make a fuss about it, like, oh,
he wore it again today when he gave a speech
about whatever you know, just do it. But here's what
I do know about the suit. I may not find it,
but when I don't know how a story ends, I
think it is my responsibility to tell you how his
story starts. So when I poked around, here's how the
story starts. Who made the suit a foundational question. And
it turns out that the man who made the suit
his name is Martin Greenfield. He died in twenty twenty four,
famous Taylor in Brooklyn. Martin Greenfield sewed his first stitches
as a prisoner in Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp. He
was wearing the shirt of an SS soldier. Now he
learned to become how to really become a tailor when
he got to the United States. But this is a
story of a man who survived Aschwitz and Brukenwald, the
worst of the Holocaust, that horror, came to the United
States and made suits not only for Obama but other presidents.
Speaker 1: M that's a great backstory, and that's why that's why
you are an award winning columnist and writer. Now specially
correspondent for The Sun Times. Linn knows how to tell
the story. And if you don't know how he ens, well,
if you can't find the suit, give me the backstory.
The backstory for me is this audience nose is always
the most fascinating part of any story.
Speaker 2: Anyway, I love the backstory. Lind's I'm glad you.
Speaker 3: Here's another bed.
Speaker 2: Give it to me, Give it to me.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna tell you everything about that suit. By the way,
listeners out there, if you're a forty long and about
thirty three waists and you're wearing a suit that has uh,
the lining is made of a fabric called Bamberg bamburger
it is. It is made out of a bamboo. It
is better than silk. So if you picked it up anywhere,
then I will, okay, then I will have to tell you,
you know, call me and maybe we could get something. Uh,
you know, we could get we could get something done.
But that is just another backstory to know about this.
Speaker 1: So I can see because of the all of the
drama that surrounded his wearing that suit, and we'll get
back to the actual press conference that day and what
he was talking about it and why in fact, there
are consequential conversations to be had about that press commerce
as it relates to his foreign policy legacy.
Speaker 2: That's what Lim was saying. Hearder, we can have some
fun with this.
Speaker 1: But there's a serious dollog to be had about the
way his foreign policy has been critiqued born of that
press commerce that day where the world was clearly getting darker.
But we didn't talk about the press commiss We talked
about the suit. So we'll come back at that in
a moment, I promise. But I can see the president
perhaps giving the suit away again. He does giveaway suits.
After a while, I do the same thing, so I
can see him giving the suit away. I can see
him either actually maybe back up. He gives suits away,
as do I. I can see him burning the suit,
getting rid of the suit because of all the hype
about it. But I can't imagine him giving that suit away,
particularly if if the person who has the suit knows
what it is. Now, when suits are custom made, I
know lous something something about this. Typically on the inside
of the suit there is stitched the name of the owner.
So wherever that suit is, I got money, that says
somewhere on the inside of that lining there is the
name stitched Barack Obama present, Barack Obama.
Speaker 3: Tell you about that?
Speaker 2: What do you know? What do you know?
Speaker 3: His name was there in the pocket. But it was good.
But believe me, can you imagine if you go to
some you know, secondhand, closed place and you see Barack
Obama's name in a suit, and so you know, I'm
just gonna get it altered. But here's the thing. I'm
told that when he gave away suits, his staff at
the White House or the or the either the ballet
or the house staff that worked with him, they knew
enough to cut the name out. This is without the
famous suit. And when I talked to Jay, you know
who is the son of Martin Greenfield who made the suit,
who was actually the guy who went to the White
House to measure him. Uh, there there was a way
in the pocket. I think it looked like something that
you could kind of rip out with that ripping flat pocket.
Any event, even if they no matter where his name was,
his people knew to look for it and get rid
of it. They're giving it away.
Speaker 1: There goes that I'm figuring somebody's wearing that suit with
his name on the inside.
Speaker 2: But I take your point. That's why lean again is
doing the reporting on this.
Speaker 3: I'm just look in the pocket. If anyone is listening, though,
look in the pocket and see if it looks like
a little label might have been ripped off of it.
See now, maybe the label Greenfield is still there. And
if there's really great hand stitching and you got it
around the Washington area, call tabs, call me. We have
a special email, you know, email me at tan suit
one word at sometimes dot com. Even if you have
some ideas what this suit means to you, what it
meant in twenty fourteen, what it means now. Also you
could read the stories and stuff that's coming up at
sometimes dot com slash tan suit. Let me repeat that,
may I sometimes dot com slash tan suit.
Speaker 1: What would it mean for you? I mean, I'm thinking
of all the brilliant stuff Leanne. I've read your stuff
for years. I'm thinking of all the brilliant stuff you've written.
What would it mean for you to actually find to
track this suit down at this point in your career?
Speaker 3: Well, okay, and everyone who's listening, what Tavi is talking
about is that I've been in this business one hundred
and fifty years and I've done all kinds of stuff.
You know, my main work has always been connecting events
to Chicago. But I you know, I've gotten around. If
I found this thing, I would I would have to
put it in a separate bucket of professional achievement. Maybe
not because of it, just it is the ultimate scavenger hunt.
And it is a challenge that I don't take lightly
because you know, my boss tell me to find it,
so I have to look. I make you laugh, my
day is made. But as I say in my column,
which I hope people read it sometimes dot com slasht
hand suit, I can't say yet I haven't found it
because I haven't looked hard enough. And one of the
reasons I'm very grateful to be on this show is
I have to get the word out. Maybe somebody knows
somebody who's something or whatever or worked in the second
handst in Washington, and they say, you know, we got
these elegant suits that were forty long and thirty three ways.
I always wondered where they came from. Well, give me
a call, maybe we could figure this out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I got just about five minutes left here. Let
me let me pivot now. Now we talked about the
suit and your search for it, this ultimate scavenger hunt.
Speaker 2: I love that man, But here's the real backstory.
Speaker 1: He wore this tank I remember it well as does
Lynn during a press conference about war. So part part
of the critique was it was the wrong color, but
also the wrong color.
Speaker 2: For that occasion. War is a serious issue.
Speaker 1: You got this light, you know, bright summer suit on,
but you're out doing a press commerce about war.
Speaker 2: He was.
Speaker 1: You know, it was clear that the country was getting
to be an even scarier place. One could even argue
that his press commerce was foreshadowing the world getting more
dangerous in advance of Donald Trump coming in and again
just doing all sorts of nonsense. But none of that
got talked about then, and frankly, it hasn't even talked
about in retrospect because the focus is on the suit.
And I'm not suggesting that we can't talk about the
suit and have some fun.
Speaker 2: With the suit.
Speaker 1: But but but talk to me about the consequential effect
of that press conference as it relates to his foreign
policy legacy.
Speaker 3: Well, just talk about traumatic for shuttering. He talked about Ukraine, yep,
touch about Iraq, talked about isis you know, trying to
even back then in twenty fourteen, there were issues with
Ukraine and Russian aggression. Now, so what happened in Ukraine
wasn't a surprise, but it also shows if we're kind
of looking at the arc of history here, it's an arc.
So the president also, as far as I know in
my reporting and I'm triple checking, this came to work
that day in the tan suit, and the press conference
was planned at the last minute, and it was in
the briefing. It wasn't one of the real big ones
in the East Room, it wasn't in prime time. And
I hope to be talking to the former White House
Press secretary at the time and nailing this detail down.
But they just decided to do it the last minute.
And probably I'm guessing no one thought to say, President Obama,
you ought not to wear a tan suit to a
press conference. I also, who would have to say that
to him except for a Larry David type of character
in a comedy.
Speaker 1: Maybe Michelle. Michelle is no shrinking violet. She ain't no snowflake.
Speaker 3: Now. Oh and by the way, the connection to Martin
Greenfield was made through one of Michelle Obama's fashion advisers.
Speaker 1: Oh, got it, got it, got it. So now you
got me thinking. This is why I love talking to
Lynn Suite. She always makes me guess my brain working here.
So now that we know that the press comference was
not pre planned, that it came up, Yes, it came
up in the during the day, he's already in the
Oval office wearing the tanned suit. Nobody says changed clothes.
He doesn't think the change clothes. It is a nice suit.
It's tailored for the president. So it's wrong with the
suit itself. It's just the people thought the color was wrong,
the choice was wrong. But if he's already in the
office wearing the suit, and then the press commerce gets called,
he walks to the White House briefing room and does
what he does, and now you got an international crisis
because of the president woor a tan suit. I wonder
if in retrospect, and I would love to ask him,
I wonder if in retrospect he wishes he had changed
suits before he.
Speaker 2: Went into the briefing room. He just lives upstairs.
Speaker 1: It's just about getting on the elevator, going upstairs to
the to the private quarters, changing suits, coming back down.
We would never have this story and I wouldn't have
had this half hour of fun talking to you. But
I wondered then if he could have done all over again,
if he might have gone and changed that suit.
Speaker 3: I am glad you asked that question, because when I
talked to the former White House secretary, press secretary and
another deputy press secretary, I'm going to pose it to them. Here.
Here is my guess that Obama is all about no
drama and no fuss. And if he thought what he
was wearing would detract, yeah, and the way it did,
he I'm guessing go upstairs and change calls. He had
many from my reporting, blue and charcoal gray suits. He
even had I think, like a gun plaid or so
it's some kind of plaid one. So I mean, just
think if you're making a public appearance at the last
minute and you were kind of a casual jacket and
you realize people are going to talk about that I
showed up wearing a baseball jacket to give a serious speech,
you would probably go put on a suit coat, wouldn't you.
That's what people do.
Speaker 2: I think about it all the time. I think about
all the time.
Speaker 1: I had to go to an event yesterday and I
looked down at the shoes I was wearing. They're comfortable shoes.
I like them, but the shoes didn't fit where I
was headed. So I literally changed my shoes. Just yesterday.
My outfit was fine, but I and I'm not a
woman octually I changed my shoes because I'm like, you know,
I can't walking.
Speaker 2: In with these shoes on.
Speaker 1: So no, these things do occur to us, but he
is the president of the United States. Was a lots
on his plate, a lots on his mind, and we
can give him a pass, I guess for not thinking
about it in that moment.
Speaker 2: Nobody around him thought about it.
Speaker 1: But obviously I can tell you in retrospect to your
brilliant point about him being no drama Obama, if he
had known all this was going to be another side
of wearing that suit. I got money that says he
would have changed clothes. I digress for now. Lynn sweet
is in search of the tan suit. She told you
how to get in touch of there at the suntimes.
If you know anything about it, anybody might have it.
We're trying to find the tan suit that Obama wore
on twenty fourteen August twenty eight that anniversary is next week,
but so much other stuff happened on that date. But
I'm delighted to have Lynn Sweet back on this program
one more again. Lynn, thanks for your insights. We'll do
it again.
Speaker 3: Hey, thanks for having me much appreciate it.
Speaker 2: My pleasure more tavished by when we come forward.