At Neck of State, we do believe that the 100 day mark is valuable, particularly with a presidency that begins in an era as perilous as 2009. The mainstream media, however, is missing the the most important dimension of assessment. Obama should not be evaluated on his bipartisanship, his domestic policies, his international appeal, his public addresses, his presidential memos, his grassroots outreach, or even his Portuguese water dog.

Obama needs to be graded on, and held accountable for, his neckties and other neck accessories. This exactly parallels the mission of Neck of State.

Since taking office, Barack Obama has worn twenty-four different neckties in public, photographed appearances. Obama’s top seven neckties reveal a lot about the type of administration he is crafting:

This chart displays the appearance frequency for each of Obama’s seven favorite ties, as counted during his first 100 days in office.

President Obama knows exactly what he wants, and he goes after it with the gusto and drive worthy of our Commander In Chief. In the case of neck wear, this means wearing his favorite ties early and often. All of Obama’s “fav seven” are either red or blue, and this reflects his Rehnquistian commitment to balance and bipartisanship. While the President is dedicated to hearing voices on both sides of the aisle, he displays extreme bias in his choice of neckties. He wore each of his top seven ties within the first two weeks of his term. Ties outside of the top seven, however, haven’t been knotted up more than three times, and several only made it out of the closet once. (See the bottom of this post for a complete listing of Obama’s Presidential ties.)

Public opinion Obama’s job record continues to hover in the thermosphere.  Because the President and his valedictocracy are adept at correlating fashion sense with public opinion, we predict that the top seven neckties will continue to have a forceful showing for the remainder of the term.

Barack Obama’s Seven Favorite Neckties

Neckties that Obama Wore Three or Fewer Times

It’s barely Wednesday, and already this is a monumental week for Barack Obama’s neck.

Sunday, the president set the attitude for the week with a high-powered, high-class, and high-octane black bow tie.

Monday, the President suited up in a consistent favorite, “Starry Night”, as he began encouraging support for his upcoming budget bill. Tuesday morning, the President once again brought “Big Blue” back for his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso, which speaks volumes to this administration’s commitment to building a stronger alliance with Japan.

Last night, Obama gave his first address to a joint session of congress. The speech was vigorous, entertaining, and comprehensible. He spoke directly to the American People about where we are, how we got here, and where we are going. Most viewers had high-expectations for the speech, and they were not disappointed.

The only unexpected turn of the night came when Obama changed ties into a new crimson cravat with white stripes for his address, a move that was certainly not calculated by his political opponents in the GOP. The President’s schedule is extremely regimented and busy, so for him to deliberately change ties is wholly significant. Moreover, donning a new neck tie despite recent tie reuse is a maneuver designed to show the nation that with the passage of the stimulus bill, America is not only turning the page and starting a new chapter, but also learning a new language and writing in a previously unexplored genre. Some analysts also claim that by wearing a wide, red neck tie Obama is renewing his pledge to reach out to Republicans in Washington, but Neck of State could not confirm these reports.

White House Photo: Joyce N. Boghosian

This week, for the first time since taking office, Barack Obama began regular reuse of ties that he had already worn this term, a move which is at once being hailed as a signal that the time for negligent waste is past, and dismissed as a partisan fashion faux pas to be expected of someone who lacks real Washington leadership experience.  Some commanders-in-chief may have worn upwards of thirty ties after being in office for eighteen days, but Obama’s total stands at an environmentally aware thirteen ties. The President’s recent tie wearing schedule broke down as:

• Monday, President Obama brought “Big Blue” back to the Oval Office for the first time since his repeat Inaugural Oath with John Roberts.
• Tuesday, the President wore a previously unseen tie featuring dark blue dots on a light blue background light/dark blue stripes.
• On Wednesday, President and Mrs. Obama made their first public appearance since the Inauguration, visiting a second grade classroom in Washington, D.C. (pictured above).  In order to instill the value of reducing, reusing, and recycling in the future voters, Obama chose to re-wear the tie that he wore in his first weekly address.
• Thursday the President broke out a new necktie while appearing with Secretary of Energy Steven Chu.
• Finally, today (Friday) the President reused the tie that he wore when he first started pushing his economic stimulus plan on Congress.

Some presidential neck wear analysts have speculated that this pattern could foreshadow a push for legislation governing responsible neck wear reuse.

To browse photos of all thirteen ties that the President has worn since taking office, visit the Tie Gallery.

Monday saw the triumphant return of Barack Obama’s favorite tie, “Big Blue”, to the Oval Office during a meeting with Jim Douglas, the Governor of Vermont.  This comes at the beginning of a week where Obama will hold interviews with every national television network in an effort to brute force his economic stimulus plan into our living rooms.

“Big Blue” declares to senate Republicans that Obama is done bending to their pressure on social issues (e.g. taking coverage of birth control out of the stimulus package in a good-faith effort to foster bipartisan support in return for zero republican votes).  Blue is the new black, which was the old red, and we expect to see an increase in sales of skinny blue ties over the course of 2009 as organized crime begins to see them as a symbol of stylized ruthlessness and posh foe-vanquishing.

In President Obama’s first full day at work he wasted no time letting the nation know which necktie was his favorite. The solid cerulean under a pratt knot with a prominent dimple has long been a staple of the Obama collection, but analysts have disagreed whether this choice would follow him to the White House. It took a neo-conservative’s lapse in memory at the inauguration to force the Obama administration to reveal “Big Blue” earlier than the transition team had originally planned.

On Tuesday, when Supreme Court Justice John Roberts botched the presidential oath of office (50 seconds into the video above), it was clear that his attention was momentarily diverted by the inaugural tie and its implied blame. Now CNN has reported that Obama privately retook the oath to allay concerns that confusion may have risen after Justice Roberts’ error.

It is not 100% clear whether the founding fathers intended for one to be President “of” the United States or President “to” the United States, but the language in the Constitution is unambiguous. So, for the do-over, Obama wanted to make sure that nothing would go wrong, and thus he chose the tie that simultaneously said “Hey, don’t worry John, we’re on the same team”, and “I will crush you if you mess this up again.” We expect to see much more of this tie in the coming term.