Every day is casual Friday at the White House

Shortly after the president’s inauguration last year, a short-lived controversy ensued over whether the Obama White House had done away with the Oval Office dress code enforced under the Bush administration. This was in response to photographs of not just the president, but many of his advisers, casually meeting in the Oval sans jackets. The controversy quickly died because photographs surfaced online of many past presidents not wearing a jacket in the Oval Office, including President George W. Bush who reportedly enforced the inherited ‘jackets required’ rule.

This story wasn’t so much about a jacket, but about an attitude. Did the newly elected president, who promised to change Washington, want to start by dismantling the familiar traditions that had endured for centuries? Remember, President Bush was elected in 2000 partially on the message that he would restore dignity to the Oval Office. Was dignity being put back in the closet along with the jackets? But alas, the story died amidst a trillion-dollar spending bill and the health care debacle. However, today, new firsthand evidence is being revealed that demonstrates that every day at the Obama White House is “casual Friday.”

This week, two news reports from The New York Times and The Daily Caller had interesting nuggets if you were reading carefully. First was the Sunday A1 profile of Obama Senior Advisor David Axelrod, conducted by Mark Liebovich in The New York Times.

In the profile, Axelrod tried to dispel the universally accepted truth in Washington that the Obama White House is bad at communicating its message. Of course, the chief messenger himself, Axelrod, couldn’t make it through the entire interview without giving us language we normally associate with Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel saying he didn’t “give a flying [expletive] what the peanut gallery thinks.” The rest of the piece had a defensive Axelrod claiming not to be a sycophant and his friends worrying for his health.

But then, as almost an aside, comes this tidbit: “A few minutes later, Mr. Obama walked in unannounced, scattering two aides like startled pigeons. ‘Hey,’ Mr. Axelrod said by way of greeting (no ‘sir’ or ‘Mr. President.’)”