On the campaign trail, Presidential candidate Obama sought to strike a populist note with rolled up sleeves and tie-less suits. And now that he’s President, he’s bringing that sartorial ease and approachability to the White House. According to the New York Times, while outgoing President Bush was all about buttoned-up formality — “coat and tie in the Oval Office at all times” — Obama works with his jacket off when he cranks up the thermostat in his office, lets his staffers go “business casual” on weekends, and, to the shock of holdovers from the Bush White House, he went to work this past Saturday wearing “slacks and a gray sweater over a white buttoned-down shirt.”
The fact that Obama’s relaxed fashion sense is causing a quiet uproar among some White House folk is continued evidence of the “out-of-touchedness” (yes, I just made up a new word) problem in government — I mean, it’s not like he showed up in his “Dad jeans. Office dress codes have been loosening for years, and we’re loving the fact that unlike our moms and dads, we don’t have to wear a suit everyday or change out of our commuter sneakers into pumps once we get to work, unless we feel like it. What we’re not loving — which is the reason dress codes have slowly started to slack — is that we work way more than our parents’ did. Which reminds us, we have to get a new Blackberry…
[photo by Souza/White House, via Bloomberg News, courtesy of The New York Times]