The Oval Office–the ultimate home office

Posted by Doug on February 7, 2009

The inauguration is now in the history books, and President Obama is settling into the most significant home office on the planet–the Oval Office in the White House.  So with that in mind, I offer these tips and suggestions for the new occupant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue:

1.  Although you’ll be working in a home office, technically, I respectfully suggest that you go ahead and get dressed for work every day.  I work in a home office, too, Mr. President, and I dress pretty much the same way I did when I worked in a regular office every day, and I find it helps me take my work more seriously.  I think most Americans want their President to take his work seriously, and frankly, we’ve got enough mental images of a President in his underpants to last us for a long time.  I personally don’t care whether you wear a coat and tie or not, but for Heaven’s sake, please wear some pants.

2.  You’ve reached a certain pinnacle in your career.   “Leader of the free world” is a pretty good gig.  Don’t blow it.  Some of us won’t always agree with you on every decision you make, but we want to be able to respect you anyway.  If you do what you said you would do, even if I didn’t like the idea in the first place, you will still have earned my respect.

3.  Please respect your office–it means a lot to us.  You’re going to be making decisions and having discussions in there that will have tremendous impact on our nation, and possibly on the whole world.  Whenever you walk in to that room, please remember who made it possible for you to be there, and what you were elected to do.

4.  I won’t give you any tips on software or time-saving Web-based tools; I heard they won’t let you use a computer or even your Blackberry.  Bummer.  Stuff is going to be way different by the time you are able to use these things again.  If you want to keep up with what’s happening, have one of your aides subscribe to this blog and print the feed for you.  I’ll watch your back, sir.  I’ll be honored to have Underpants Office in your daily briefing.

[Update: Apparently you've talked some sense into your aides on this matter, sir.  Congratulations!  But my offer still stands.]

5.  If you’re looking for a good to-do-list application, let me recommend…oh, right–no computer.  Sorry–never mind.

Good luck, sir, with your new job.

Thanks for reading this article!

You won't miss the next one if you subscribe to the RSS Feed