Singing the blues
Sorry red, there's a new color that suits the powerful
It must be a different kind of blue state.
On inauguration day earlier this month, just as a tidal wave of Democrats were settling into their new government offices across America, Governor Deval Patrick sported a blue tie with his dark suit.
On Barack Obama's official Senate website, there he is, wearing the same uniform: dark suit, white shirt, blue tie.
John Edwards, when he is wearing a tie -- he's in the I'm a regular guy presidential campaign mode right now -- can often be seen wearing a blue one.
And on a recent taping of "Meet the Press," US Senator Christopher Dodd, a Democrat from Connecticut who has taken steps to run for president, sat with a gaggle of guys wearing a blue tie.
"Blue is the new black for Democrats," said Mary Anne Marsh , a Democratic strategist for the Dewey Square Group .
What in the name of subliminal messages is going on here?
"I saw Hillary on 'Good Morning America' [talking about her presidential exploratory committee], and she didn't have a tie," joked Jaime Stephens , executive director of the Color Marketing Group , an international association of color designers who forecast color trends for products and services.
Not surprisingly, CMG has declared that blue -- in its many hues -- will be a major palette player in the decade to come for two reasons. People are becoming more alarmed about environmental destruction, and in these uncertain geopolitical times, humans are looking to surround themselves with soothing earth tones, such as brown, green, and, of course, blue, the color of water and sky.
President George W. Bush must have gotten the memo. At his Tuesday night State of the Union address, where he offered a plan to fight global warming, he wore a blue tie, white shirt, and dark suit. But, by yesterday, when he traveled to Delaware to promote his energy plan, he was back to wearing a red tie.
"Blue has always represented calmness and conveys confidence. Not like red, a power color which I think of as a color of the last millennium," said Stephens. "But I don't want to ignore the message of global warming, either. Maybe subconsciously [for politicians] it might be a way of showing possible constituents that you realize that the environment is of concern. It's both to convey confidence, competence, and perhaps address the topic of environmentalism. I definitely think that blue is the red of this millennium."
However, blue, the color of working-class collars, is a hue that has long been associated with Democrats. In political circles, there is even a bright blue called "Kennedy blue" that dates back to President John F. Kennedy and is constantly used in campaign logos.
And unlike red, blue doesn't really have any negative connotations in North America, Stephens added. "Well, let me back up," she said, cutting herself off. "Not that I want to go there, there's feeling blue for feeling sad. But I think the positives outweigh the negatives."
As for Patrick's sartorial choices, spokesman Kyle Sullivan said the governor has a wide range of ties, including ones in optimistic tones of yellow and orange. "You may be reading too much into it," Sullivan said. "Sometimes the tie just matches the suit."
With due respect to Freud, sometimes a tie is just a tie. 