Why does Hillary wear such bad clothes?

It is obvious to the point of cliche that Clinton is in a trickier position in many ways than Obama: when he is emotional, he is persuasive; when she is emotional, she is betraying her feminist roots. So just as Obama can cut a dash in his slimline, clearly style-conscious suits, Clinton has to hide herself in garishly coloured squares going under the name of "jackets", or else risk being dismissed as so vain that she would be too busy putting on her lipstick to respond to an international terror threat.

When Clinton complained in a debate just before the March 4 primaries that she "always" got the tougher time from the press, there was another clue to her personal style. It is as if Clinton - incredibly, given what her husband went through - seems to be under the impression that the media is always fair. So last year, when there was a bit of a hoo-ha in the US press about Clinton showing some cleavage, instead of dismissing it as the load of misogynistic nonsense it was, she seems to have taken this to heart and buried herself ever since in shapeless, defeminised, frequently yellow (yellow!) suits.

Of course a woman shouldn't be denied the presidency just because she can't dress well, but that is not the point with Clinton - she has always carefully tailored her style to what she thinks the electorate desires. Just look back at photographs from when Bill was elected and Hillary was wearing pleated skirts and alice bands, looking very much like a Sloane circa 1984. In short, she is doing what she thinks she should as opposed to having a splinter of courage and being true to herself. Which kinda makes you wonder what sort of leader she would be.