When I started working in the business world almost 20 years ago, there were still a few holdouts such as EDS or IBM where everyone had to wear a suit and tie. (EDS people could take off their jackets while sitting in their office or cubicle as I recall.) Much has changed since then and Bill Gates even goes without a tie. Microsoft people and may in the tech industry never wear ties when meeting with clients. It's rare that I wear a tie when visiting my own corporate clients and they're not wearing them either.
Of course Obama is in the White House but I don't see where it's important for him to wear a jacket if he doesn't want to wear a jacket. Formal meetings or functions are another story, but really, this is a non-issue. Bush was another generation and from a stodgy old money family. Besides, wearing a jacket in the Oval Office didn't do much for him or the country.
I'm with Obama on this one. It's 2009 for goodness sakes.
It's the same Oval Office. The same desk. Even the same curtains. But President Obama has already made one major change: Go through eight years of White House photos, and you won't find one of former President Bush in the Oval Office without his jacket on.
It wasn't just a personal preference. In the Bush administration, it was a rule: Jackets in the Oval Office — and now, it seems, one of the first Bush-era regulations to get scrapped in the Obama White House.
