Barack Obama has already lowered the standards of the presidency, CNN Political Ticker reports.
It’s the same Oval Office. The same desk. Even the same curtains. But President Obama has already made one major change: Go through eight years of White House photos, and you won’t find one of former President Bush in the Oval Office without his jacket on.
It wasn’t just a personal preference. In the Bush administration, it was a rule: Jackets in the Oval Office — and now, it seems, one of the first Bush-era regulations to get scrapped in the Obama White House.
The “jacket at all times to respect the dignity of the Oval Office” was apparently one of Ronald Reagan’s rules that Bush adopted in the post-Clinton era to “set the right tone.” As symbolism goes, it’s not bad. It’s similar to the football coach who requires that players keep their helmets on, even while standing on the sidelines, to “keep their heads in the game.”
At the same time, there’s nothing magic about a jacket. I type this sitting dressed much as Obama is (my shirt’s light blue and my tie’s red with blue stripes, if you must know – both Brooks Brothers); I hang my suit jacket up upon arriving at the office, donning it only for important meetings. If Team Obama can be more effective by being a bit more comfortable, more power to them.
