Last week I told you about President Obama’s thermostat-cranking habit, which is the reason he’s been seen in the Oval Office in his shirtsleeves. That would be fine by me, if it weren’t for the way he lectured us all on the campaign trail about being more responsible with our personal energy use. But some have complained on aesthetic grounds, saying that this jacket-optional policy is disrespectful to the office of president or something.
Take, for example, former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card. He told Inside Edition:
“There should be a dress code of respect. I wish that he would wear a suit coat and tie…
“The Oval Office symbolizes… the Constitution, the hopes and dreams, and I’m going to say democracy. And when you have a dress code in the Supreme Court and a dress code on the floor of the Senate, floor of the House, I think it’s appropriate to have an expectation that there will be a dress code that respects the office of the President.”
Well, alright, if you want to be an old fuddy-duddy. Seems to me that “Keeping my jacket on” shouldn’t be quite as high on Obama’s list as things like “Making sure at least one or two of the people I appoint to my administration have paid their taxes” and “Not setting terrorists free to kill more people” and “How about let’s not tax the hell out of everybody.” You know, little things like that. I don’t care if he wears a Captain Kirk shirt and a Napoleon hat to work, as long as he starts getting his act together. But if you want to sweat his dress code, go ahead.
…
Huh? The Huffington Post found what?
Oops! So hey, why don’t we let Obama wear what he wants? As long as he keeps his hands off the thermostat.
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Simon – are you bashing a Republican? I knew you were really a commie!
I don’t care what he wants to wear in the dang Oval Office. As long as he does his job, which so far he has not. The big piece of this is the fact that he told us to be more conservative with our heating bills but cranks up his own heat. We keep our below 70 degrees all the time, thank you very much Mr. President. And you come from Chicago. Grow a pair!
Oh for crying out loud.
I think the last paragraph sums it up for me… “Seems to me that “Keeping my jacket on” shouldn’t be quite as high on Obama’s list as things like “Making sure at least one or two of the people I appoint to my administration have paid their taxes” and “Not setting terrorists free to kill more people” and “How about let’s not tax the hell out of everybody.” You know, little things like that…”
He can go naked for all I care.
Chronic – I now have to go dig my eyes out. Thank you very much.
There are plenty of pictures of previous presidents portrayed without sport coats (ran out of p’s), some with sleeves rolled up.
Angry Army Wife: I’ll do yours, and you can do mine. BLEAGGGHHH.
Sorry, angry army wife. I just realized what sort of visual that really is and I need bleach.
What’s Obama got under his sleeves? I’m gonna guess at least one anchor tattoo, maybe one of those panthers clawing up his skin, you know maybe MOM with an arrow through a heart.
Working in a tie & sleeves is perfectly acceptable for routine office stuff.
It’s not like Obama showed up in Blago’s tighty track pants.
Doesn’t it seem like people in the late 50s and 60s were up in arms about Kennedy not wearing a hat? He’s just a different kind of guy, I guess, than people are used to seeing in the Office. But, as pointed out, it really has no bearing on how he performs his office. There are bigger things to think about, like the wreck of the economy.
Can you buy one half of a hat?
If the Oval Office symbolizes the Constitution and democracy, HTF did it manage to screw both of them them up so badly over the last eight years?
As long as Obama actually respects and abides by the Constitution, he can dress like a Masai warrior or a Jewish American Princess for all of me.
I don’t know, HTF did it?
Wow. 2 days after being elected Bush took his jacket off. 8 years ago.
Couldn’t they have come up with a picture from the last 2 years to make a point?
Couldn’t Obama pretend to using his brain instead of hiring tax cheats and trying to shame people for voting for a monic “stimulous” bill that will only make things worse.
He’s turing out to be a bigger loser than even I imagined.
Ok, I am one of the ones that could care less what he wears when he is raoming around the White House putting cig butts in the planters. But when he is meeting with heads of state or has outside meetings with other than his posse he needs to be professional.
As for the Pic of George Bush, now find me one of him meeting with people and not wearing a jacket.
I’m going to admit that I’m a little disappointed to see this picture. I like the idea that the most important office on earth has a dress code. I believe in the “Broken Window” theory and that casual disrespect in small things can signal/lead to disrespect in big things. If this is the only picture of Mr. Bush sans jacket that the lefties can come up with then I think we can assume that it is an anomaly and for the majority of his time in office he respected the tradition. I would love to see Mr. BO put on his jacket and show some respect. I realize I’m being a fuddy-duddy here and that there are far larger issues out there but I don’t think traditions should be tossed aside lightly.
I know it sucks how badly the constitution, and democracy have been shredded so I can’t make wise ass remarks, or question our leaders on the internet or in person without being hauled in somewhere because of Bush.
Now if Obama wanted to ask me a question in my driveway, what could possibly go wrong with that? I mean he’s a liberal right? Right?
OMG, Winewife referred to the Broken Window Theory. I love you, Winewife. Chastely, purely, because I’m a married woman. But still.
I don’t think the shirtsleeves thing bothers me that much, although his hubris in contriving to look “hardworking” when he’s really such a sock puppet does bug. And how delicious is it that he likes it hot and his initials are BO? [Insert foghorn sound effect here.]
Winewife wrote: “I believe in the “Broken Window” theory and that casual disrespect in small things can signal/lead to disrespect in big things.”
I’ve read well reasoned postulations that Clinton’s blue jean atmosphere led to Monica, so you might have a really good point there Ww.
Yeah, I clicked on the link and have a few observations. Like the fact that the title is “BUSH Jacketless” when it actually covers like four presidents going sans jacket (I suppose the justification could be ‘he was the most recent’).
Also that it fishes around with ” It turns out that going casual in the Oval Office is a long, time-honored tradition that pre-dates the Bush administration: JFK did it. Gerald Ford did it. Ronald Reagan did it. Jimmy Carter did it. Clinton did it (a lot).” The Clinton “a lot” is what’s really striking me right now.
Also, there’s a fantastic difference between “the public has never seen a picture of Bush sans jacket until now” and “I have seen ONE picture of Obama in a jacket and tie!”
Beige is right and I say she wins the thread for using the word “hubris” ^_^ People who try so hard to LOOK as though they’re doing work . . . well, they very rarely are.
Huh. Wasn’t it a big deal that Bush insisted on always wearing a suit and tie?… which I think should be done. The (literal) office of the presidency is a little more than manager at Burger King.
However, I agree. The cigarette butts all over concerns me more.
Alas, Beige, I too am a married woman. I guess we’ll have to settle for being just friends. *Sigh*
“Wasn’t it a big deal that Bush insisted on always wearing a suit and tie?”
Yep. Clinton ran a very loose ship. I remember reading a quote from Rahm Emanuel about his days at the White House under Clinton. Rahm had an internal debate with himself that very first morning about whether “jeans or a sports coat” was appropriate attire.
Guess he’d never heard of a suit and tie at that point.
W’s theory was that casual dress codes resulted in a relaxed atmosphere which was demeaning to the status of the office. Apparently George H.W. was also a serious stickler about suits and ties for men and proper skirt lengths (no pant suits) on female staffers.
Well my question is, what’s the point of jacking up the heat if you are going to take your jacket off?
I bet at some point the Obam Office will look like the Foreman’s basement on “That 70’s Show”.
You mean, Pinandpuller, that if we kept buildings at a normal temperature, people wouldn’t be impelled to run around half dressed?! What a ridiculous notion!
lol, I can see them having meetings now, on the two stripey couches, with the camera zooming in on each person . . . Obama going, “OMG, my ears are huge! *giggle*” Okay, now I’m taumatized ^_^ THANKS.