Flip-Flops at the White House

No, this is not about politicians changing their minds, ala John Kerry, this is about footwear. There's a minor flip-flop flap over the choice of footwear worn by various members of championship NCAA teams that visited the White House last week:

A photo of Northwestern University's national championship women's lacrosse team, taken during the athletes' visit to the White House last week, shows four of the nine women in the front row wearing flip-flop sandals along with their dresses and skirts.

The choice of footwear has prompted a mini-controversy - a flip-flop flap, if you will. A front-page story in the Chicago Tribune included the headline "YOU WORE FLIP-FLOPS TO THE WHITE HOUSE?!" inspired by an e-mail sent to player Kate Darmody from her older brother after he saw the photo on the team's Web site.

Family members of other players expressed similar dismay, insisting the summer footwear staple was too casual for a visit with the president.

"Don't even ask me about the flip-flops," said the mother of player Aly Josephs. "It mortified me."

During an appearance Monday on NBC's "Today," Darmody and teammate Shelby Chlopak said players planned to auction off the flip-flops they wore to the White House, with the proceeds to go toward a fund for a 10-year-old girl with a brain tumor.

The women have defended their attire, arguing they wore a dressier version of the casual sandal.

"Nobody was wearing old beach flip-flops," said Josephs, who wore a $16 brown pair with rhinestones.

Darmody, 22, added: "I tried to think of something that would go well with my outfit and at the same time not be that uncomfortable. But at the same time not disrespect the White House."

Normally I would ignore this story completely, except that I was at the White House last Tuesday when this occurred. That was the day we were supposed to tour the place, but had our tour canceled due to the NCAA event.

In defense of the ladies, it was brutally hot and humid that day, and frankly I'd have worn flip-flops if I could have gotten away with it. My family dressed up pretty nicely for our trip to the White House, though we never got past the visitor's gate after waiting 30 minutes in the steamy air.

Although I wasn't wearing inappropriate shoes, I was wearing an understated Hawaiian shirt that day. It was just too hot to wear the long sleeved dress shirt that I had brought with me for the White House visit.