What To Wear When Visiting The White House: Slacks And A Smile

Among the new ch-ch-ch-changes Barack Obama has brought to the presidency is a more casual dress code.

Under President Bush, jackets and ties were to be worn in the Oval Office at all times. Obama, being Hawaiian, prefers to keep the Oval Office like a sauna, and has thus deemed jackets optional. Another change that’s come with the Obama administration is that he comes into work at 9 a.m, two hours later than his predecessor. President Obama likes to have a little time at the gym before heading in to work, while Bush preferred to work out midday. U.S. Presidents! Not really much like us!

What tickled us most, though, is President Obama’s tendency to catch his staff while they’re in the act of acting like some mothereffing fools:

In the West Wing, Mr. Obama is a bit of a wanderer. When Mr. Bush wanted to see a member of his staff, the aide was summoned to the Oval Office. But Mr. Obama tends to roam the halls; one day last week, he turned up in the office of his press secretary, Robert Gibbs, who was in the unfortunate position of having his feet up on the desk when the boss walked in.

“Wow, Gibbs,” the press secretary recalls the president saying. “Just got here and you already have your feet up.” Mr. Gibbs scrambled to stand up, surprising Mr. Obama, who is not yet accustomed to having people rise when he enters a room.

Obama’s aids originally showed up to work weekends in jeans. Jeans. Like common bloggers! President Obama then decided that weekends would carry a “business casual” dress code. The President showed up to work in slacks, a gray sweater and a white button-down. What’s next, a Hawaiian shirt over a grass skirt?! Former Bush staffers were understandably horrified.

Dan Bartlett, who was an advisor to Bush, recalls the fateful Slacks Sklackery and how much it differed from the dress code under President Bush: “I’ll never forget going to work on a Saturday morning, getting called down to the Oval Office because there was something he was mad about. 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.”

Ha! God we’re so thrilled to be writing about clothing in the White House that have nothing to do with Michelle Obama. Refreshing.

So. What do you think of Obama’s more relaxed White House? And what does “business casual” mean anyway?

White House Unbuttons Formal Dress Code [NYT]