Obama on Joke That He Wears 'Mom Jeans:' 'I Look Very Sharp in Jeans'
President Barack Obama pushed back Friday against the joke that he wears "mom jeans." "I look very sharp in jeans," he told Ryan Seacrest in a radio interview.
"I've been unfairly maligned about my jeans," he said. "The truth is, generally, I look very sharp in jeans."
Obama claimed that the joke originated from the time he wore loose jeans to a baseball game: "There was one episode like four years ago in which I was wearing some loose jeans, mainly because I was out on the pitcher's mound and didn't want to feel confined while I was pitching."
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"Since that time, my jeans fit pretty well," he added.
"Mom jeans" is used to describe the type of loose fitting jeans that are thought to be popular among middle-aged mothers. NBC's "Saturday Night Live" mocked them in a 2003 skit.
Comedians have long joked that Obama wears mom jeans. Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" used the joke on at least two occasions, in June 2012 and January 2013.
More recently, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin used the quip in a critique of Obama's relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Obama's wearing of mom jeans illustrates his weakness compared to Putin, she implied.
"People are looking at Putin as one who wrestles bears and drills for oil. They look at our president as one who wears mom jeans and equivocates and bloviates," she said.
