The Fetterman Fight

Photo by Governor Tom Wolf from Harrisburg, PA, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

I didn’t intend to write about John Fetterman’s clothing controversy, but the idea grew on me. Eventually, I decided that I had something to say so here goes.

The brouhaha makes me think of two things. First, John Fetterman’s name reminds me of “The Fetterman Fight,” a book that I used to read a couple of times every summer during my local library’s reading program. This is really apropos of nothing except that I’ve liked reading about history for a very long time and the 1866 battle, which was the deadliest defeat for the US Army in the West until Custer’s defeat at the Little Big Horn 10 years later, is something that deserves to be remembered.

In the second place, staying in my childhood, I’m reminded of going to church (twice every Sunday and once on Wednesday) with my parents. Until I was out of college, going to church was a formal affair that almost always included a tie. Kids could forgo jackets in the Georgia summer heat, but most of the men wore them year-round. In my youngest memories, some of the older men even wore dress hats.

A few decades later, going to church is still a habit (only one service on Sunday now, but we still have a Wednesday night prayer meeting), but almost no one wears a suit and/or tie anymore. That includes the pastor at my current church. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I wore a tie (one of the most useless pieces of clothing ever invented) since the uniform at my day job includes a golf shirt.

This brings me back to the present and the current Fetterman fight.

Over the past few decades, American life has gotten a lot more casual. That’s both a good thing and a bad thing.

When I’m watching an old movie from the 30s or 50s, I look at the actors and think that they look very put together. The men are dapper and the women are elegant. Of course, those are movie stars, but that was also the way that the general public dressed at the time. (I purposely skipped the 40s when olive drab was the most fashionable color.)

At times, I’m tempted to think that it would be nice if those styles were still in vogue. Especially fedoras. I like the look of a fedora. They are much more classy than a baseball cap (even a fancy one) and they are practical, actually providing protection from the sun and rain.

But then I come to my senses. I think to myself that those people from yesteryear wore those long pants, jackets, and ties in the same weather that I wear shorts and flip-flops in. And they did it without air conditioning. Oh, the humanity!

I can’t honestly say that I’m sorry that America has gone casual. We may not look as good, but dang it, we’re more comfortable. That counts for a lot.

But maybe the Great Casualness shouldn’t spread to all aspects of our society. There are some instances in which going casual just isn’t appropriate. There may be casual weddings and funerals, but for the most part, such occasions are still a time to clean up and dress up. We do it to show our respect for the people involved.

Some jobs also customarily require more formal dress. For example, a maitre’d at a fancy restaurant is expected to wear a coat and tie. It’s part of the experience. Airline pilots wear ties because the uniform is an integral piece of the uniform that tells passengers, “I am competent and know what I’m doing.”

That reasoning should apply to congressmen as well. Congressmen should look competent and presentable. although there are plenty of examples of how looking competent and classy does not match the character inside the suit (Lauren Boebert, I’m looking in your direction at the moment).

But more importantly, dressing up in Congress shows respect. Congressmen should have respect for their constituents, for the legacy that they are part of, and for the awesome responsibility that they are expected to uphold.

When I look at John Fetterman, I don’t see respect. The message that I get from Fetterman’s wardrobe and the way he carries himself is “I don’t care.”

I do realize that Fetterman has problems. He has struggled to recover from his stroke, but as I look at pictures of him, it’s pretty obvious that dressing down has been a long habit. Pictures of him from 10 years ago don’t look very different from today. In his official portrait as lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania in 2019, he is wearing a collared, button-down work shirt with no tie.

I don’t think that Fetterman’s health problems are an excuse for his slovenly dress. In fact, dressing better might help his struggle against depression. Often, when you look good, it helps you to feel good.

Reading about the kerfuffle, I was reminded of George W. Bush’s strict dress code which required coat-and-tie in the Oval Office at all times. It turns out that Bush went tie-less in the Oval Office at least once, and despite the complaints when Barack Obama reversed the policy, it turns out that going casual in the Oval Office is a long tradition as well.

Nevertheless, presidents wear ties at appropriate times. So should congressmen. A little formality in the right places to show respect is not a bad thing.

And Fetterman seems willing to compromise. On Friday, he said that he would be willing to wear a suit to Congress to vote for appropriations bills that would avoid a government shutdown and continue aid to Ukraine, whose leader has incidentally also been criticized for his casual style.

And for me, that’s the real bottom line. Style can be important, but substance is importanter. [That’s a joke, not a typo.]

I’d like to see Congress and the president dressed to the nines as befits their positions, but I’d rather have a government that respects the Constitution rather than trying to throw out election results and aids our allies who are fighting for the survival of their country rather than trying to appease Vladimir Putin. If I had to choose between the two, I’d choose honest and competent elected officials rather than snappy dressers.

Fortunately, it’s not an either/or proposition. We can do both. And we should.

I don’t expect Majority Leader Schumer to reverse his new rule, but members of Congress can choose to dress better than the lowest common denominator. They don’t have to normalize sloppy dress and I hope they don’t.