This morning, Ryan Seacrest debriefed President Barack Obama on his recent shopping trip at the Gap Tuesday before a Democratic fundraiser in New York City that evening.
The American Idol host told the President that the Gap sales associate who helped him, Susan Panariello, may have made a comment about his jeans. The President said, “I’ve been unfairly maligned about my jeans. The truth is, generally, I look very sharp in jeans.”
He said he has been catching a lot of flak for his jeans since he sported loose ones while standing on a pitcher’s mound about four years ago. “I think I’ve paid my penance for that, I got whacked pretty good.”
He also claimed his daughters think that, for a Dad, he “displayed reasonably good taste” in clothes, at least in cardigans. He ended up buying a couple of them for his daughters Sasha and Malia, plus a blue workout jacket for First Lady Michelle Obama.
Admitting to Seacrest that it has been a while since he has been in a Gap, the President said the real reason he stopped by the retail store was to commend the chain for increasing its starting salary for its employees. The President has been urging Congress to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour.
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Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com