Out of curiosity, what is your thoughts on proper dress for things like shopping? At what point does the price of the object actually influence an upgrade in dress? For me, I was in a button up shirt, nice jeans, and decent walking shoes when I went to look at houses, and figured anything more would have gotten in the way of looking closly at details on a house.

Car shopping, the first one was in a t-shirt (tucked in) and jeans. Being mostly ignored at one dealership was one reason I went elsewhere, though the other part of that was likely my age at the time. Not too many places expect a 20 year old to be buying a new car.

As far as the white house issue, I'd also be dressed much nicer then the folks there, simply more as a sign of respect for what the office is. Just because Bush is there now doesn't degrade my respect for the other 40+ people who have held that office.