“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.”Wouldn't even let you cross the threshold? So. There's this big emergency going on, and instead of waiving his stupid rule about jackets in the oval office or -heaven forfend joining you in the hallway or a conference room - the President of the United States hollered at you from across the room? For 15 minutes? Just brilliant. Way to stand on stupid ceremony, at the expense of real goals. Reminds me of the genius yeshiva administrators who require hatless and/or jacketless students to forfeit the benefits of praying with a minyan.
Just for fun, here's a crackpot theory on why the president required his aids to keep their jackets on. Four years ago, there was much Internet speculation that the president was coasting through his debates with John Kerry because he (Bush) was wearing an earpiece and receiving answers from Karl Rove. I don't actually believe this, but suppose the president was so insecure, and so badly prepared that he wore an earpiece 24/7, so that his wiser and more experienced aids could help him bumble through meetings. He'd want to keep his jacket on so as to hide the apparatus, wouldn't he? But, when everyone is in shirt-sleeves, the one guy wearing a jacket looks strange and out of place. People might start to wonder just why it is that the president always has his jacket on. Requiring everyone else to keep their jackets on, too, is a nifty solution, no? (Note: the preceding was a crackpot theory.)
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