Huge Scandals That Have Rocked The Obama Family

No president exits the White House with a controversy-free record. It just comes with the territory. And Barack Obama and Michelle Obama were no exception. However, no controversy is created equal. To many commenters, the scandals surrounding the Obamas that the media focused on reflect a simpler time for American politics, one where fashion choices and food preferences made headlines. Nowadays, they're often brought up in contrast to the scandals involving Donald Trump and his family.

"Yeah Trump does bad stuff sometimes but do you remember when Obama wore that tan suit," one user wrote on X, previously known as Twitter, in March 2025. However, others believe the media fixated on trivial matters when Barack deserved real criticism in some areas. "Obama wears a tan suit while announcing that he is going to use military action against ISIS and the media was more preoccupied with the suit's color than the actual news of foreign US military intervention," another X user argued.

Michelle's outfit choices have also been met with harsh criticism. But she also caused uproars over more serious matters, including breaking royal protocol on her first trip to the U.K. as first lady and making eyebrow-raising statements about her pride in the United States. The Obamas have handled the rumors surrounding them with grace and humor, and the same is largely true for their controversies. Barack has even joked about his infamous tan suit. The current state of American politics does make some of the Obamas' controversies sound like silly jokes.

In May 2009, Barack Obama found himself the subject of unwanted attention when he ordered a burger with Dijon mustard on it. "Just your basic cheddar cheeseburger, medium well. I just want mustard. No ketchup. If you've got like a spicy mustard or something like that, or a Dijon mustard or something like that," he said in a clip Sean Hannity featured on his Fox News show. It was a huge scandal, as conservatives everywhere were appalled at the un-Americanness of the then-president.

Hannity could hardly contain his repugnance for Obama's choice of condiment. In his eyes, that only proved he was out of touch with the American people. "I think the president watches a little too much television," he said, before showing a clip of a classic Grey Poupon Dijon mustard commercial featuring two pompous British men. "All right, I hope you enjoy that fancy burger, Mr. President," he concluded the segment.

Hannity's fellow Fox News presenter Laura Ingraham echoed his sentiment, but instead of focusing on what Obama put on his burger, she was more concerned with what he left out. "What kind of man orders a cheeseburger without ketchup but Dijon mustard?" she said on "The Laura Ingraham Show" (via Media Matters for America). The uproar was such that experts felt compelled to weigh in. "There's nothing pretentious about Dijon mustard," Barry Levenson, founder and curator of the Mt. Horeb Mustard Museum, told the Chicago Tribune. "It's a very simple product."

Five years after the Dijon mustard brouhaha, Barack Obama drew criticism over his fashion choices. During a press conference to address his administration's response to the war against ISIS in Syria in August 2014, he dared to wear a tan suit. Social media had a field day. "This is what happens when Obama bypasses Congress to purchase a suit," journalist Philip Klein tweeted. Not everyone hated it, though.

"People, it's two days before labor day weekend. Let Obama wear a khaki suit," another netizen quipped, referring to the de facto end of summer when light-colored clothing is considered most appropriate. It may sound like a joke, but the buzz surrounding Obama's tan suit really turned the event into a controversy warranting its own Wikipedia page. This is largely because social media users weren't the only ones preoccupied with Obama's attire.

Political commenters also gave their two cents — often not jokingly. "Is this in an effort by the political gurus to make him look warmer?" former Fox News host Lou Dobbs wondered (via CNN). The problem seemed to have been partly created by Obama himself, who had previously laid out his apparel preferences. "You'll see I wear only gray or blue suits," he told Vanity Fair in 2012. "I'm trying to pare down decisions. ... Because I have too many other decisions to make." Thus, his detour from tradition caused many to think he was trying to send a cryptic message. Who knows? Maybe he was. 

Barack Obama wasn't the only Obama to cause a stir over his fashion choices. Years before his faux pas, Michelle Obama was at the center of a similar controversy. And hers was a lot more permanent since it involved her first official portrait as first lady. In February 2009, Michelle posed for the photo in a black sleeveless Michael Kors dress adorned with a pearl necklace. Many commentators criticized her decision to bare her toned shoulders and arms, deeming the look too informal for a first lady.

The portrait came just a week after Michelle donned a purple sleeveless dress during Barack's first congressional address. People were about to lose it with her penchant for baring her arms. "Oh my god," former editor-in-chief of Glamour magazine Cindy Leive told The New York Times at the time. "The First Lady has bare arms in Congress, in February, at night!" Critics struggled to understand why Michelle opted to expose her arms even when the occasion called for warm attire.

"One reader summed it up better than most of them. She talked about how the season is winter, the occasion was business and a sleeveless dress was the wrong style at the wrong time," the then-style reporter for the Chicago Tribune said (via ABC News). However, others defended Michelle's fashion preferences. Jackie Kennedy's social secretary, Letitia Baldridge, recalled how the late former first lady also often wore sleeveless dresses. "It was fine then and is fine now," she told HuffPost.

Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's first encounter with the British royal family came early in the presidency. In April 2009, the then-president and first lady flew across the Atlantic to meet the late Queen Elizabeth II — and Michelle managed to cause controversy yet again. While talking at a reception, Michelle was captured briefly placing her hand on the queen's back. As royal experts and fans are well aware, no one is supposed to touch the monarch. Michelle wasn't exactly unaware of the protocol, but she wasn't entirely aware of it either.

After a long flight, she just did what felt natural to her. "Forget that she sometimes wore a diamond crown and that I'd flown to London on a presidential jet; we were two tired ladies oppressed by our shoes," the former first lady revealed in "Becoming," her 2018 memoir. "I then did what's instinctive to me anytime I feel connected to a new person, which is to express my feelings outwardly. I laid a hand affectionately across her shoulder."

The faux pas seemed to matter more to observers than to the queen herself. While Michelle was widely criticized, Elizabeth didn't seem to mind too much. After all, she reciprocated Michelle's touch by placing her own hand on the small of her back. It didn't go unnoticed. "She's not known for this kind of thing," the late royal expert Charles Mosley told CNN, calling Elizabeth's actions "astounding."

If Barack Obama was unfairly deemed un-American for his choice of burger condiment, Michelle Obama's critics had a better argument against her in February 2008. Speaking in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on the campaign trail, Michelle made a controversial statement about her pride in the U.S. "People in this country are ready for change and hungry for a different kind of politics and ... for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback," she told the crowd (via Fox News).

Her remarks didn't sit well with many Americans, and Barack's opponents sought to capitalize on it. "I am proud of my country," Cindy McCain, wife of the Republican candidate John McCain, said at a rally. "I don't know if you heard those words earlier ... but I am very proud of my country." Michelle attempted to explain what she meant, arguing she wanted to highlight the impact of Barack's campaign on voters. "For the first time in a long time, thousands of Americans who've never participated in politics before are coming out in record numbers," her spokesperson Jen Psaki said.

Barack also stood up for his wife, noting she was talking specifically about American politics and not the country as a whole. "What she meant was, this is the first time that she's been proud of the politics of America," he said (via ABC News).