How about this for some pre-election non-news, care of Insta-Glenn and Professor T? From the NYT article:

Gen. Wesley K. Clark has begun to show a softer side.

Gone are his navy blue suit, red tie and loafers, replaced by argyle sweaters, corduroys and duck boots.

[...]Some Democrats say the problem is that women are put off by the military persona. [...] But even General Clark acknowledges he has a problem to overcome with women. “I think there’s an impression that the armed forces is a male-dominated, hierarchical, authoritarian institution,” he said in an interview on Thursday. “And I think they have to get to know me.”

General Wes, it seems, inspired by the recent endorsement of Madonna herself, is dancing to the tune of Vague. [Not a typo. --- Ed.] All kidding aside, Doc J finds it silly, but significant in a way:

I must admit, these make-overs are rather amusing. But there’s almost certainly something to them. People clearly react to the manner of a person’s dress.

There’s a reason attorneys and physicians continue to wear dark suits and neckties in a dress-down society: people expect people in positions of great responsibility to dress “seriously.” When I was teaching college, I bucked the recent trend and wore a coat and tie (as did my then-colleague Taylor). The students definitely noticed, and were almost befuddled if we showed up in casual clothes.

If I had a dime for everytime I said that appearances do matter, I’d be rich by now. Appearances really do. Let us keep in mind, though, that fashion sense—better known as STYLE—isn’t exactly about wearing the best, most well-known, or most expensive clothes. They’re about making the clothes fit the man, and more importantly, making the clothes fit the context of the man’s environment. Twenty-one-year old young men from Los Angeles would do well not to wear any rave bunny gear if they were to visit, say, Wyoming or Maine.

I would like to take a short note of what Doc J had to say about his own experiences as a Prof. Despite student expectations of “formal” wear from their professors I’d rather go the way of Moaning Loser Smile and be on the more uptight end of “casual” were I to teach. I’m the type to take students by surprise by looking unserious until they find out that I am seriously not “curving” any of my grading systems. The added benefit of “lightening up” is that for the younger ones, it would be a bit easier to actually level with them if I didn’t look like I had a necktie up my ass. I was serious about my teaching (I taught for a short while during my fourth year of college) but when you couple thumb-up-ass clothing with dead-serious subject matter that’s when you see a lot of fidgeting, or dozing off.

Looking “unserious” in front of your colleagues is less an insult than having a hall full of sleeping kids.