In Schenectady, NY today to say some things about the economy and his latest economic adviser (cue Tim Carney's hair on fire), President Obama is zapping out all kinds of non-verbal messages...with that purple tie.

What is he trying to tell us? Obama rarely wears purple, he is more a straight-up blue and red tie guy, with the occasional somber grey thrown in.

We secretly love when presidents coordinate their ties to events. They all do it, to a certain degree. Red on Valentines Day, sky blue when Israeli leaders are in town, green on Saint Patrick's Day. The entire Bush administration used to go burnt orange every time the University of Texas won anything.

Obama's previous, limited forays into purple neckwear excited a great deal of speculation on the internet, including suspicions he was sending secret messages to the purple-hued SEIU team during the health care debate. Glenn Beck apparently thought that one up. But anyway, that was more of a lilac. Today's tie is a bold, dark, bipartisan purple. Like the color you'd get if deep red and blue dye were mixed together in a boiling pot of political centrism.

It is the color for 2012!