The Obama Zombies.

A New York Times profile of young White House staffers has been making the rounds this week and has provided us with more than our fair share of unintended entertainment.

First off, the article (and the staffers themselves) seem to view it as a good thing that well connected and influential up-and-comers would choose "gritty" hipster hangouts that ordinarily attract DC's greasiest and crunchiest over clean cut, politico-prepster havens:

Compare:
The young White House staff members have formed an unofficial enclave... with nightlife emanating out from the U Street corridor. The area, part of which was ravaged during the 1968 riots, is gentrifying but still has a gritty feel. Some of the staff members call it “campus.” Older journalists trying to impress their young sources sometimes suggest hip neighborhood places like Cork, the Gibson speak-easy and Marvin, a sleek bistro and bar that has a mural of the iconic Shepard Fairey “Hope” poster of Obama’s face painted in blue and red on its outside brick wall.

with:

Even so, Obama’s young aides offer a contrast to the ones who worked in George W. Bush’s administration only a few years ago...When they did go out, Johndroe says, they stuck to creaky haunts close to the White House like Old Ebbitt Grill or bars in the historically preppy enclave of Georgetown. “The Daily Grill was the place to go on Thursday nights, in Georgetown, and then people would go to Smith Point,” Johndroe said, referring to the basement bar known for sightings of the Bush twins and its unofficial uniform of popped collars, boat shoes (no socks) and salmon-colored khakis for the men, pearls and Lilly Pulitzer for the women. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/magazine/02obamastaff-t.html?pagewanted=1

Mark this as a win for the Bushies. We can begrudgingly concede that the "gritty" hipster scene has its place, but making such establishments your primary haunts while working at the White House is kind of like wearing jeans to church.

The coup d'etat of the article, however, is the following line:

...young staff members are nervous about upholding the Obama creed of modesty and discretion.

Yes, you read that farce of a coherent throught correctly. Twenty-five year olds whose social lives are being profilled in an uber elitist paper are worried that the guy pictured below will not think of them as modest enough.