Barack Obama Shocks Washington With His Bare Shirt

Most people try to put their best feet forward, sartorially speaking, on the first day of a new job. Not Barack Obama! He rolled in to the Oval Office on Jan. 21 wearing absolutely nothing except a pair of black dress pants, a belt, a crisp white dress shirt, a blue tie, a leather wristwatch and spit-shined shoes.

His community was horrified…

The capital flew into a bit of a tizzy when, on his first full day in the White House, President Obama was photographed in the Oval Office without his suit jacket. There was, however, a logical explanation: Mr. Obama, who hates the cold, had cranked up the thermostat.

"He’s from Hawaii, O.K.?" said Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, who occupies the small but strategically located office next door to his boss. "He likes it warm. You could grow orchids in there."

And maybe he will grow orchids in there, since he's dressed like a farmer anyway. (Also: so much for that "flinty Chicago toughness," eh, Mr. President? Just kidding. Go ahead and turn it up to 88, Al Gore will never notice.)

It gets worse: Obama's dress code is so lax, he even attended a weekend briefing in slacks and a sweater. A gray sweater! This kind of casualmongering would not have passed muster in George W. Bush's White House…

"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," said Dan Bartlett, who was counselor to Mr. Bush. "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."

Say what you will about former President Bush.

At least he kept America safe from White House staffers in khaki pants.