In his fifth weekly address to the nation, Barack Obama wore a solid gray neck tie. He chose a dull color to deliver a somber, repetitive message that was fundamentally about unity and accomplishment. From the address:

Because of what we did together, there will now be shovels in the ground, cranes in the air, and workers rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges, and repairing our faulty levees and dams. Because of what we did, companies — large and small — that produce renewable energy can now apply for loan guarantees and tax credits and find ways to grow, instead of laying people off… Because of what we did, our children can now graduate from 21st century schools and millions more can do what was unaffordable just last week… Because of what we did, lives will be saved and health care costs will be cut… Because of what we did, there will now be police on the beat, firefighters on the job, and teachers preparing lesson plans… Because of what we did, 95 percent of all working families will get a tax cut — in keeping with a promise I made on the campaign.
…
No single piece of this broad economic recovery can, by itself, meet the demands that have been placed on us… In short, we cannot successfully address any of our problems without addressing them all.

Emphasis and HTML mine.

The President’s tie serves multiple purposes in this message. His monotonous “because of what we did” mantra parallels the Obama/Biden “yes we can” campaign slogan, but in this neck tie, the color and enthusiasm of his campaign are gone. By passing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Obama has achieved his first major milestone with the grace of a Cecchetti ballerina, yet his neck tie reminds us of the darkness of Die Fledermaus. The stark tie he wore Friday is simultaneously symbolic of the fierce economic road ahead and the composure that we must maintain while we travel that road together.

In his third weekly address to the nation since taking office, President Barack Obama spoke on the need to act post haste on the stimulus package even if the bill isn’t quite right. From the video:

Legislation of such magnitude deserves the scrutiny that it’s received over the last month, and it will receive more in the days to come. But we can’t afford to make perfect the enemy of the absolutely necessary. The scale and scope of this plan is right. And the time for action is now.

Neck of State analysts are skeptical about the President’s commitment to acting right now. We expect instead that the stimulus bill’s execution will exemplify the ‘Hurry Up, So That We Can Wait’ Principle, which states that the speed at which an organizational or authoritative entity will take action is inversely proportional to the urgency with which said entity makes its requests.

Case in point: after recording the address sometime Friday, Obama took off to Camp David with his family on Saturday. A fortuitous photographer was able to catch the President truly kicking back with no tie at all.

At Neck of State, we do not believe that this is miscalculation by the President. On the contrary, we encourage the President to take any and all vacation time that he deems necessary to support his inconceivably stressful lifestyle. The switch to casual mode is a signal to the nation that we can all just chillax. The President’s urgency is meant only to strike paralyzing fear into the overconfident hearts of his enemies. His neck wear tells us what he cannot say outwardly in any Press Conference: “Everything will work out in the end. If it hasn’t worked out, then it’s not the end”.

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.

Original Photo Credit: Reuters/Larry Downing

While on Capitol Hill Wednesday, Barack Obama made a stop with congressional Representatives to push his economic stimulus plan. His choice of a solid, shiny, and red tie is meant to convey the urgency of the brutal economic storm that the United States will face if Congress doesn’t act quicker than the Cookie Monster going after the last Oreo on a desert island.  This is the second time President Obama has worn a solid red tie since taking office (he wore an additional patterned red tie for his inauguration). We expect that red will (perhaps unsurprisingly) be the color of urgency for this term, which is the first area where the Obama has chosen to follow the lead of the previous administration.  Analysts expect the Department of Homeland Security to release an official Obama Executive Tie Threat Advisory Indicator soon.

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.