According to a new article from The New Republic, Ann Romney and Hillary Clinton have more in common then we think. Ann turned down an invitation from Anna Wintour for an interview with Vogue. Hillary famously also turned down the outspoken Democratic party supporter back in 2008. The Romney campaign may have just felt the glamorous magazine was not the right move for Ann this early on ( a Vogue cover in a designer dress does not scream, “I am one of you”) or perhaps Anna, who is one of the top fundraisers for Obama and was rumored to be up for a position with the party, may have alienated the GOP. This is unfortunate because at the end of the day Anna is supposed to be a journalist.
She is already one of the biggest fund-raisers for the Obama Administration, She brought in more than $500,000 as of July. And put together a group of top people in the fashion industry, called Runway to Win, to help President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign. According to The Observer, Wintour’s involvement in politics has increased a lot in the last two years. She has attended high-profile White House events, including two state dinners, one of them during David Cameron’s visit in April. She serves on the President’s committee on the arts and humanities and has held Democratic party fundraising events at her New York home. In June there were real rumors going around that she was up for a US ambassadorship in London if the post become vacant later this year by Louis Sussman. Michelle Obama was featured on the cover of the magazine right after Obama took office so it may not be the most GOP-friendly magazine.
But it could also be that the magazine is just too glamorous and frivolous for serious politicians. Back when Hillary turned down the cover of Vogue Anna, who took it quite personally, wrote a editor’s letter. From TNR:
“Wintour suggested that the then–presidential candidate was afraid of looking “too feminine.” “The notion that a contemporary woman must look mannish in order to be taken seriously as a seeker of power is frankly dismaying. … Political campaigns that do not recognize this are making a serious misjudgment.” She followed it up with some specific, passive-aggressive hints for the former first lady. “[W]e would love to see her wear a demure coat in delicious purple by Carolina Herrera to memorial services on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.”
A few years before Anna had published a piece on Hillary in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal calling her a survivor and elegant and they wrote another piece during her senate race. This explains why Anna took the snub so personally and reinforces her democratic preferences. But Ann may have also stayed away because of the recent Vogue blunder of glorifying Syria’s Asma Al Assad. The March profile described the dictator’s wife as “glamorous, young, and very chic—the freshest and most magnetic of first ladies,” and failed to mention her husband’s violent reign.
But Ann obviously does have some passion for fashion as she wore a stunning red Oscar de la Renta for her RNC speech on Tuesday so she make her way into Vogue later on. According to TNR, Anna’s hunger for political coverage really comes down to, “She wants Vogue to be wherever the action is,” according to a former staffer.
