On Monday President Obama signed an executive order enabling fourteen states to set strict limits on greenhouse gas emissions and fuel efficiency for cars and trucks. Pictured above behind Obama is Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, who is actually really psyched about this development.

The symbolism in Monday’s tie choice is unequivocally in favor of protecting the environment.  Dark green betrays Obama’s love of mother earth, or Gaea if you will, while the white stripes, which resemble the lanes on a United States interstate highway, represent human-kind’s expansion at the expense of nature.

Original Photo Credit: Reuters/Larry Downing

Barack Obama spent the larger portion of Thursday undoing executive orders put in place my the Bush administration.  The dimple’s a bit out of alignment on this solid burgundy tie – President Obama was clearly in a rush to start reversing every act President Bush took in his two terms.  Again, we see that Obama chooses a red tie when he’s calling attention to the activities of his Predecessor.

Orders of interest coming out this week include:

• Guantanamo Bay must be closed within a year.
• The U.S. Army Field Manual is now the official standard for interrogation for all U.S. personnel; it prohibits waterboarding as well as threats, coercion, and physical abuse.
• Anyone in the White House who currently makes more than $100k is getting a pay freeze.
• Executive branch employees are now prohibited from taking gifts from lobbyists.
• Executive branch employees may now only be hired based on qualifications, competence, and experience, as opposed to political connections.
• Other officials besides the President can no longer claim executive privilege to keep executive-branch documents sealed. In particular, presidential pets and Dick Cheney may no longer claim that their communications are protected by separation of powers.

(more details on the orders can be found here and here)

While it was not expanded in an official executive order, Obama has informally rejected the Bush Doctrine Jacket Regulation, which required the President to be wearing a full suit at all times in the white house.  At Neck of State, this comes as no surprise.  No jacket means that the President’s neck wear will always be in unobstructed sight for photographers, the secret service, and the public.  The president has created an atmosphere of total transparency in both government and ties.

Update: President Obama also destroyed the Global Gag Rule.

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.

Original Photo Credit: Reuters/Jim Young

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet… On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics… Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America… As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.

(emphasis mine)

It’s January 20th, 2009.  Barack Obama is now the 44th President of the United States of America, and he comes to us with promises of hope, change, and imminent disaster.  This was not a State of the Union address, and as such there was very little detail about where we should go from here.  He spoke boldly of the challenge facing America, and passionately about the task awaiting us as a nation.  For the next four years, this speech is the standard to which he will be repeatedly held.

Here at Neck of State, we look beyond the spin surrounding President Obama’s speech to ask something more important:  What tie was he wearing, and what does that say about his message?  Obama’s choice of a red patterned tie with a dimpled Pratt knot, along with the use of the adjective ’strangled’ is hardly a coincidence. Red makes it clear who he thinks is to blame for the horrific challenges that he’s describing, while the Pratt knot has long been known as the knot of hope, and calling partisan dogmas out for strangling our politics clearly delineates the presence of the underlying message  (vis a vis his necktie).  The New York Times posted tag clouds for every inaugural address in U.S. history, and each speech has themes and unique features (for example, Preisdent Obama seems to be the only one who ever thought it was worthwhile to pair the word “women” with every occurence of “men”).

Mr. President, we look forward watching you carry your message out this term in your eloquent speeches, carefully planned budgetting and legislation, generous funding of education and science, liberal application of that whole ‘everybody’s equal’ concept, and your meticulously selected neckwear.