GW in Ohio
02-09-2009, 08:46 AM
WASHINGTON — The clucking could be heard clear across the capital when President Barack Obama first showed up in the Oval Office without a suit coat.
“There should be a dress code of respect,” Andy Card, a chief of staff to former President George W. Bush, declared last week. “I wish that (Obama) would wear a suit coat and tie.”
It’s a matter of propriety and the dignity of the office, Card maintained.
They had taken that dress code pretty seriously under old “43,” a longtime aide and former counselor to Bush told the New York Times.
“I’ll never forget going to work on a Saturday morning, getting called down to the Oval Office because there was something (Bush) was mad about,” ex-counselor Dan Bartlett told the newspaper. “I had on khakis and a buttoned-down shirt, and I had to stand by the door and get chewed out for about 15 minutes. He wouldn’t even let me cross the threshold.”
This news item illustrates very clearly the difference between the Bush and Obama approaches to government.
For the Bush team, appearances and proprieties seemed to be the highest priority. As for the actual work Bush and his crew performed in the Oval Office....well, we all know how that turned out. The current administration will be a while cleaning up the messes, both domestic and international, left in the wake of the disastrous (but well-dressed) Bush team. And let's not even mention the numberous vacations taken by ol' # 43. The work of government seemed to leave him plumb tuckered out.
Speaking strictly for myself, in these tough times, when the United States is teetering on the brink of an economic meltdown, I'd rather see my president and his team actually going to work in the Oval Office. How they are dressed is of minor importance to me.
Take off your jackets, boys, loosen your ties. Roll up your shirt sleeves if you want.
But go to work for us.
“There should be a dress code of respect,” Andy Card, a chief of staff to former President George W. Bush, declared last week. “I wish that (Obama) would wear a suit coat and tie.”
It’s a matter of propriety and the dignity of the office, Card maintained.
They had taken that dress code pretty seriously under old “43,” a longtime aide and former counselor to Bush told the New York Times.
“I’ll never forget going to work on a Saturday morning, getting called down to the Oval Office because there was something (Bush) was mad about,” ex-counselor Dan Bartlett told the newspaper. “I had on khakis and a buttoned-down shirt, and I had to stand by the door and get chewed out for about 15 minutes. He wouldn’t even let me cross the threshold.”
This news item illustrates very clearly the difference between the Bush and Obama approaches to government.
For the Bush team, appearances and proprieties seemed to be the highest priority. As for the actual work Bush and his crew performed in the Oval Office....well, we all know how that turned out. The current administration will be a while cleaning up the messes, both domestic and international, left in the wake of the disastrous (but well-dressed) Bush team. And let's not even mention the numberous vacations taken by ol' # 43. The work of government seemed to leave him plumb tuckered out.
Speaking strictly for myself, in these tough times, when the United States is teetering on the brink of an economic meltdown, I'd rather see my president and his team actually going to work in the Oval Office. How they are dressed is of minor importance to me.
Take off your jackets, boys, loosen your ties. Roll up your shirt sleeves if you want.
But go to work for us.