How do I look? Like a prince.

I like ceremony. I think there is purpose to a lot of ceremony, especially the ceremony associated with certain political offices like the Supreme Court. Do the justices really need to wear hand-stitched robes and sit elevated above those lowly lawyers arguing before them? Of course not. Wearing a robe does not change the merit of the arguments, but it lends a certain gravitas to Supreme Court decisions. Without such ceremony, maybe their decisions would not carry so much weight (see The Hollow Hope). It is not unheard of that some rulings go unenforced. Would the lack of enforcement spread if their illusory authority were to be somewhat weakened? I think their power would be diminished to an extent without all the pomp and circumstance.

Since Obama was sworn in as our president, I have become increasingly annoyed at the "I'm a normal guy who understands normal people" attitude that seems to take away from the prestigious veneer of the office. I started thinking about this a while ago when a friend of mine remarked that she would never vote for Scott Brown because of his Cosmo nude shot. I found that statement strange coming from someone who strongly supported Obama, fully aware of his Men's Health shoot. To be clear, I do not think that shoot says anything about Obama's ability to be president, but there is a pattern of "everyman" behavior that rankles me. There are the small things like not wearing a jacket during some meetings. There is the highly publicized trip to eat a hot dog for lunch, or was it a hamburger? There is the endless obsession with Obama's knowledge of sports and his seemingly professional prowess at basketball. Why do I care if the President thinks college football should have a playoff? The basketball thing really irked me during the NCAA men's championship game, when CBS took most of halftime to show us Obama's victory over Clark Kellogg in horse.

All of that bothered me. A lot. This weekend I saw an article in the NY Times Sunday Magazine that sent me over the edge. The article chronicles the lives of several twenty-something Obama staffers. The article had several interesting statements like:

"President Obama’s young staff and their senior counterparts mix seamlessly and often sweetly. During the primaries, Axelrod once dropped by a party at the Pad — a group house in Chicago where seven campaign staff members lived, worked and played the video game Rock Band. The rumpled, over-50 “Axe,” as nearly everyone calls him, impressed the crowd by playing a game of beer pong."

How could it possibly help our standing in the world knowing that senior staff members are playing beer pong? Do you think it reinforces our strength at the bargaining table? For someone who places so much emphasis on diplomacy, I find it irritating that Obama does not control the his image and the image of the White House better.

I don't think he should abandon all fun, but it is important to control the image of the White House. Play basketball as much as you want, just politely decline when CBS asks if they can film you playing horse. I am all for throwing out the first pitch at the All Star game, just don't do it in jeans. Okay, maybe that one isn't a big deal, as long as he gets it over the plate! Most importantly, tell the reporters to shove it when they ask to write an article detailing the drunken exploits of your staffers! You are the president. I am sure they will listen.