12 thoughts on “The Fetterman Fight

    1. Heh, it never does. The ‘class irony’ play here is that ‘signalling’ he’s a common man doesn’t entirely work for the large swath of people who not only have dress codes but types of uniform they must don at work. NOT wearing appropriate clothes for the job is the height of privilege that my class of Tech White Collar slobs get to invoke. And even then? Not so much.Report

      1. Staffers are trying to advance their careers. They’ve got to make the effort. Probably most Congressmen will dress up as well. As for Fetterman, there aren’t many standards he’s lived up to, but as I said after the PA primaries, if the state is fundamentally unserious then they shouldn’t get that second Senate seat for 6 years.Report

      2. That’s an interesting point. So too have my dress requirements declined as I reached higher echelons of success, before finally having them go totally out the window once I got to my second tech company. Strangely the first tech company had the strictest and was actually stricter than law firm life. You can only imagine what the leadership culture was like to produce that result.

        But since then I dressed better for my job waiting tables at a chain Italian restaurant than I do as the 2nd most senior lawyer at the company.Report

  1. I certainly wouldn’t wear a banker’s suit… and haven’t for years. And I’m not sure that ‘dress codes’ are a great thing for precisely that reason… I don’t think ties and dark suits are magic.

    That said, I think Fetterman’s dress on the edge of the floor reflects poorly on him (has he actually broken the code barrier yet?). There are a lot of things he could wear as a ‘big guy’ that doesn’t require coat/tie and still be on-brand and appropriate. Not rising to that minimum is poor form but it’s on him. I wouldn’t waste national cycles on it, but if I were campaigning directly against him, I think it would be possible to use it against him.Report

  2. It’s less style than it is costuming — signaling for a variety of non-Senators. Fetterman has the advantage that his size makes him recognizable. A normal-sized Senator in jeans and a sweatshirt seen from behind is going to immediately send the wrong signal about their identity to staffers, security, etc.

    When my father was an insurance field auditor and safety engineer, he sometimes spent a week in outstate Nebraska. He wore a suit, dress boots, a string tie, and a business Stetson. He always told me it wasn’t for the bankers and ranch owners. It was for the casual people and it said, “I’m here to talk to your boss about money matters, and he’ll be pissed if you aren’t polite to me.”Report

  3. There are several people in Congress making hay about the change and these people should probably look long and hard about how their actions debase Congress. They won’t but they should. Honestly, maybe this is after spending 15 years in the Bay Area but people put way too much stock in the alleged power of formal wear. We would all be better off if people could take a chill pill on it.Report

    1. I’m only five years in the Bay Area, so I kind of still see the importance of formal wear while getting your point. Formal wear sort of shows that you are taking something seriously. It is of course perfectly possible to take something seriously while dressed in comfortable clothing but getting dressed up tends to show that you have made an effort.Report

        1. My state legislature’s dress code is “coat and tie” regardless of sex or gender. Coat usually means three-quarter length sleeves or longer. Tie is some sort of fabric around your neck in some fashion. The rule is only enforced on the floor of the chambers. On particularly hot days the coat rule may be relaxed (the Capitol lacks air conditioning). You see all kinds of attire to go with the coat and tie: jeans, dresses, the occasional kilt…

          Late in the session, when people are running around a lot and coats may be forgotten, the sergeants-at-arms have a collection of coats in lots of sizes, as well as ties and tie-equivalents, and loan them out as necessary.Report

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