Substance over style

President Obama has brought a more relaxed style of dress to the White House, going without a jacket himself and allowing others to do the same. Members of the former administration and many other long-time observers of the capital scene where appalled when they saw how the new President was dressed on his first full day of work.

It was the first of the former resident's unbreakable Rules to fall by the wayside... a subtle indication of the changes coming our way. His relaxed style is just one more reason for his political adversaries to hold against him.

An aide in the previous suit-&-tie-at-all-times crew tells the story: "I [got] to work on a Saturday morning... 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."

In contrast, President Obama has issued an informal rule for “business casual” on weekends, setting the example when he showed up Saturday for a briefing dressed in slacks and a gray sweater over a white buttoned-down shirt.

What workers from the previous admin and Obama critics seem not to understand is: de-emphasizing the second word of the name the most famous office in the world is known by doesn't change the room's purpose. By that I mean, the Oval Office is, after all, an office. And like every other office in the country, the Nation's work is done there. In the end, does it matter if one has a jacket on so long if the work gets done?

Respect should be shown for the White House and the Oval Office because of what they represent: the United States of America and her people. But a renewed emphasis of substance over style rather than style over substance stressed by the previous crew is what's going to get us out of the mess the neocons left us in.

I don't know about you, but I prefer a casually dressed but articulate, thoughtful, honest and competent leader over one who stresses that visitors be dressed for Sunday church but who is arrogant and thoroughly incompetent; who may have broken federal laws, who by choice started a war that has cost us dearly in blood, treasure and moral stature.

As President Obama said in the stimulus speech: "many of America's largest corporations are planning to lay off tens of thousands... the number of new unemployment claims jumped to 626,000... 2.6 million jobs lost last year... ½ million jobs each month for the last two months.

The time for talk is over. The time for action is now, because we know that if we do not act, a bad situation will become dramatically worse. Crisis could turn into catastrophe for families and businesses across the country.

We can't delay and we can't go back to the same worn-out ideas that led us here in the first place.... proposals you've been hearing for the last 10 years... [ideas] rooted in the idea that tax cuts alone can solve all our problems. Those ideas have been tested, and they have failed. They've taken us from surpluses to an annual deficit of over a trillion dollars, and they've brought our economy to a halt. And that's precisely what the election we just had was all about. The American people have rendered their judgment. And now is the time to move forward, not back. Now is the time for action."

So who cares if those trying to rescue America from the hole the neocons left us in wear suit jackets or not? Only fools would. Or do.