# Obama has to dress down, he's busy cleaning up your puke! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 5, 2009, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-to-dress-down-hes-busy-cleaning-up-your-puke/484642 "2009-02-05T23:51:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-to-dress-down-hes-busy-cleaning-up-your-puke/484642/121 "2009-02-06T17:12:06Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Seriously though, has anyone noticed that in almost all meetings of government leaders, everyone is wearing nice suits? There is a reason for that. Suits lend an air of professionalism and gravitas, and make them appear to be people who should be taken seriously. I’ve never seen such a well dressed [masseur](http://www.democraticunderground.com/img/06/0717_bush-merkel2.jpg). Seriously though, other than giving me a chance to snark, this is one of many examples I can cite of an immaculately dressed Bush doing something completely unprofessional and abhorrent. How much worse would it have been if he weren’t wearing a tie when he groped the Chancellor? Do you think it would have been as bad if Bush had refused to wear a tie during that meeting but otherwise acted like the consumate statesman? In other words, do actions speak louder than suitjackets? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-to-dress-down-hes-busy-cleaning-up-your-puke/484642/122 "2009-02-06T17:18:23Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > Good for you Starving Artist! > **(what’s a Snuggie?)** [Recent thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=504285&highlight=snuggie) [Product website.](https://www.getsnuggie.com/flare/next) It’s a blanket with sleeves. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-to-dress-down-hes-busy-cleaning-up-your-puke/484642/123 "2009-02-06T17:18:32Z")
**Starving Artist:** [How](http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/rutherfordbhayes/) [do we](http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/martinvanburen/) [feel about](http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/jamesgarfield/) [unkempt](http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/williamhowardtaft/) [facial hair?](http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/abrahamlincoln/) I can’t get the picture out of my head that your lifestyle looks something like [this.](http://www.djc.com/blogs/SeattleScape/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/leave-it-to-beaver.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-to-dress-down-hes-busy-cleaning-up-your-puke/484642/124 "2009-02-06T17:21:52Z")
OK, wow, I probably should have read page two of this thread before posting. I can’t believe at least two other people immediately came up with the same example I did. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-to-dress-down-hes-busy-cleaning-up-your-puke/484642/125 "2009-02-06T17:31:34Z")
I’d rather hear the truth from a man in shirtsleeves than a lie from a man in a three-piece suit. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-to-dress-down-hes-busy-cleaning-up-your-puke/484642/126 "2009-02-06T17:37:38Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > I’d rather hear the truth from a man in shirtsleeves than a lie from a man in a three-piece suit. But what if the suit guy had a puppy with him? ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-to-dress-down-hes-busy-cleaning-up-your-puke/484642/127 "2009-02-06T17:42:01Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > Does no one here have grandparents who blather on about the good old days? Do you actually \*engage \*them on this shit? Or do you just smile and nod and “uh huh” like a sane person with a sense of futility? > > Just askin’. Just wanted to quote this, because…seriously. Given that this is a guy who is firmly convinced that hippies destroyed America, who even tries to respond to him rationally anymore? ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-to-dress-down-hes-busy-cleaning-up-your-puke/484642/128 "2009-02-06T17:45:02Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > But what if the suit guy had a puppy with him? Is the puppy doing a heck of a job? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-to-dress-down-hes-busy-cleaning-up-your-puke/484642/129 "2009-02-06T17:46:23Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Well, what’s right is right. I hereby retract, in light of the photos clearly showing my beloved Pubbie presidents jacketless (but still with cuffs fastened and ties in place, it should be noted :D, save for one pic of Reagan where he was clearly en route to or coming from his home in California), my assertions that they held to a more formal dress code in the Oval Office than does Obama. Clearly my information in this regard was not factual and I do apologize. Well then. See that you keep your wits about you in the future. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-to-dress-down-hes-busy-cleaning-up-your-puke/484642/130 "2009-02-06T17:51:29Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > But what if the suit guy had a puppy with him? Depends on what the puppy is doing on the suit, right? ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-to-dress-down-hes-busy-cleaning-up-your-puke/484642/131 "2009-02-06T17:53:08Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > [Recent thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=504285&highlight=snuggie) > > [Product website.](https://www.getsnuggie.com/flare/next) > > It’s a blanket with sleeves. Thanks. I saw one of these in the store the other day but didn’t make note of the name. I was reading the hilarious comments on that Huffington Post page, and someone mentioned that Anderson Cooper said on air that he could find no picture of Bush, or any other president, working in the Oval Office in his shortsleeves. Yet, Huffington Post had this slideshow up within hours. Come on, really, what kind of crack research team does Anderson Cooper have anyway? I don’t watch TV, but I’m getting that the whine by Card got a lot of media play. I’m curious if any of these media outlets will do a followup showing these pictures of Bush and Reagan, or if Card’s bullshit will just be allowed to stand without refute. Because I’m sure that, unlike Starving Artist, Card will never apologize or say he was mistaken. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-to-dress-down-hes-busy-cleaning-up-your-puke/484642/132 "2009-02-06T17:59:38Z")
> [@Scylla](#): > > . . . . A black person suited up severely can look overly formal, like they’re trying too hard, or look like a waiter, or look threatening. I’m not being prejudiced here, it’s all about color and angles, Take a tall black thin man, dress him in a black suit and you have Darth Vader. Casual elements soften that. > > . . . . That being said, at this stage I think Obama is slightly overdoing the “I’m a hardworking but casual man of the people” bit just a little too much. Doubtless he’ll adjust and fine tune as time goes by. _Oh, no he din’t._ So, if he dressed in a suit and tie, he’s trying too hard one way (or looks like a servant) and if, as he has only done so far, he takes off his jacket and/or goes without a tie he’s trying too hard the other way. Okay. No prejudic there, none at all. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-to-dress-down-hes-busy-cleaning-up-your-puke/484642/133 "2009-02-06T18:08:10Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Boy, nothin’ gets you people cranked up like the suggestion that someone should dress nicely. It’s telling, that is. I for one am tired of the umpteen Pit threads piling up about dress codes. I mean, what with all the people banned for going over the line in GD in dress code debate threads, I don’t see why the whole subject shouldn’t be banned altogether. The inevitable enormous trainwrecks really aren’t worth it. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-to-dress-down-hes-busy-cleaning-up-your-puke/484642/134 "2009-02-06T18:16:16Z")
When Obama walks up behind Angela Merkel wearing spandex shorts and flip-flops with white socks a Cat-in-the-Hat chapeau and tries to give her a shoulder massage at a state affair then I’ll know how to decide one way or another whether his sartorial style indicates that he knows how to comport himself with dignity and gravitas in front of other world leaders and the world. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-to-dress-down-hes-busy-cleaning-up-your-puke/484642/135 "2009-02-06T18:23:03Z")
I seem to have clothes blindness most of the time. I generally don’t see, and don’t care, what anyone else is wearing. I care what they do and, to a lesser extent, what they say. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-to-dress-down-hes-busy-cleaning-up-your-puke/484642/136 "2009-02-06T18:26:09Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I’m not making the assumption that Powell had anything excruciatingly important to add to the meeting that day. > > Quite the opposite, in fact. …you’re seriously claiming that the SECRETARY OF DEFENSE had nothing to say at that meeting. You’re clearly batshit insane. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-to-dress-down-hes-busy-cleaning-up-your-puke/484642/137 "2009-02-06T18:41:47Z")
Not only that, **Carrot** , but if Colin Powell had absolutely nothing to contribute to the meeting, surely he shouldn’t have been invited: there had to have been more important things he should have done with his time than cool his heels in Bush’s office. No matter how I look at it, it comes off as the small-minded petty actions of a President for whom large complicated things are beyond his mental grasp, so he inflates the importance of the inconsequential. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-to-dress-down-hes-busy-cleaning-up-your-puke/484642/138 "2009-02-06T18:42:16Z")
[QUOTE=Scylla] A black person suited up severely can look overly formal, like they’re trying too hard, or look like a waiter, or look threatening. I’m not being prejudiced here, it’s all about color and angles, Take a tall black thin man, dress him in a black suit and you have Darth Vader. [/QUOTE] You do know that Darth Vader wasn’t actually black, right? Regardless of what you may have been led to believe, black people aren’t born with plastic body armor. James Earl Jones just did the voiceovers. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-to-dress-down-hes-busy-cleaning-up-your-puke/484642/139 "2009-02-06T18:43:46Z")
I think we can all admit though that the backward trucker hat he wore to the Democratic caucus was bit much. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-to-dress-down-hes-busy-cleaning-up-your-puke/484642/140 "2009-02-06T18:44:07Z")
Seems to me the real contempt shouldn’t be for Card, who’s just ignorantly shooting his mouth off (a blessing of liberty all free men should enjoy), but with any reporter who didn’t give the statement the ridicule it deserved. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-to-dress-down-hes-busy-cleaning-up-your-puke/484642.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obama-has-to-dress-down-hes-busy-cleaning-up-your-puke/484642.md?page=8)