Chaos In Barry's Jungle White House
Did you hear about what's going on in there, the Obama White House? It's Lord Of The Flies: Tropical heat, territorial prowling, surprise attacks on subordinates and barbaric business casual.
Without jackets or even ties.
The New York Times' investigative Page One report is pretty jaw-dropping. George W. Bush's people can't believe what they are hearing. That guy wouldn't even let you in the Oval Office without a jacket and tie, meanwhile the new president is running around practically naked:
[Barack Obama] showed up Saturday for a briefing with his chief economic adviser, Lawrence H. Summers, dressed in slacks and a gray sweater over a white buttoned-down shirt. Veterans of the Bush White House are shocked.
“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.”
And That One is always taking his jacket off, right there in the Oval Office, on account of the rain forest heat, which he prefers. Senior adviser David Axelrod: "“He’s from Hawaii, O.K.? ..You could grow orchids in there."
OK, fine. Is that why the president likes to roam around his office, looking to pick off the weak, and ambushed his poor secretary, who had his feet up on his desk?
“Wow, Gibbs,” the press secretary recalls the president saying. “Just got here and you already have your feet up.” Mr. Gibbs scrambled to stand up, surprising Mr. Obama, who is not yet accustomed to having people rise when he enters a room.
To savor these moments of warlord dominance, the president likes some hippie "Green Dragon" tea, which is made by a company called "Honest Tea," probably out of human bones?
Michelle Bernard tried to warn us all, people, about the Obamas doing "God knows what" in the White House. But we didn't listen. Now the ties are coming off and it's just terrible and the next thing you know actual work will be getting done. (Rahm still looks hot and well dressed, though, which is nice.)