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Jewish World Review Feb. 20, 2001 / 27 Shevat, 5761
Bill Straub
the White House http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- JEANS are out and ties are in at the Bush White House. The new administration is seeking to restore more professional dress to an office that some complained had become accustomed to T-shirts and tennis shoes over the past eight years. President Bush and Chief of Staff Andrew Card have established an unofficial dress code for White House employees during the administration's first four weeks. The reason, Card said, is to ensure that proper respect is accorded the office of the president. "The president did suggest to men that if you're going to enter the Oval Office you should be wearing a tie,'' Ari Fleischer, Bush's press secretary, said. "And that's something we all proudly do. But, no, there's nothing more beyond that. I mean, Andy Card has suggested, you know, jeans are not appropriate to be worn in the West Wing. And we all adhere to that.'' That may not sound too stringent in the modern, Armani-suited business world but it's a far cry from what was considered de rigueur during the administration of Bush's predecessor, President Bill Clinton. After the Clinton inauguration in January 1993, the strict White House dress code established by the previous GOP administration - George W. Bush's father - was tossed out the window. It wasn't unusual for aides to attend meetings in T-shirts and jeans, an ensemble that proved particularly popular in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which adjoins the White House and where most of the younger staff works. Suit jackets were ditched in favor of sweaters by some and business skirts were transformed into pantsuits, an item popularized by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., who then served as first lady.
The pantsuits can stay, Fleischer
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