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Haute Couture

Anyone who’s covered Congress knows that House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) periodically ribs members of the Capitol press corps about their wardrobe. It could be their shoes. A jacket. A tie.

 

And I fell victim to Boehner’s fashion police Thursday.

 

Journalists are notorious for being sartorial disasters. Especially here in Washington. And hobos in “O Brother, Where Art Thou” dress better than some of the reporters who cover Congress. I’ve seen journalists wandering around the Capitol in November wearing seersucker suits. Others don ties with a print that looks like the zebra from Fruit Stripe Gum. Some seemingly insist on donning thick, tweed jackets for 96 degree days in July.

 

I wear a suit or at least a jacket and tie almost every day I’m at the Capitol. First, it’s a credibility thing. If you’re dealing with lawmakers and Washington’s power elite, dressing for success helps. Good tailoring lets everyone know you know what you’re doing. Even if you don’t.

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StorytellERdoc: My John Deere Cap

Now, how many of you are familiar with farming? And forestry? John Deere is a stellar company, one that has stood up through the worst of our economy. My father's business relies on the excellence of their heavy-machinery products, especially their skidders and bulldozers. The people who don their John Deere hats are typically farmers and industrial sorts, salt-of-the-earth types. In my small-town hometown, when you wear a John Deere cap, you wear it with pride. That assumption would be wrong. Completely off-base, actually. Frankly, though, I could care less what other people want to assume, but I find it surprising that this assumption actually exists. Anybody who is familiar with farming or knows a farming family is aware that these are some of the most intelligent, brilliant, and hard-working people you will ever come across. What one assumes might be a simple mind could actually be quiet confidence, introspective intelligence, and humility. I'll take this person over a dim-witted owner of a suit and European car any day. , for lack of a better word, was in an up-scale department store check-out line. The cashier spoke freely, easily, to the people ahead of me. Then it was my turn....

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