The Presidency is putting a ban on first class travel by government officers. The executive office announced that President Hipólito Mejía himself will set the example traveling to the United Nations Millennium Summit in economy class and on a commercial airliner. The Listín Diario, in an editorial today comments on the new style of the President, of which the above is another example. The editorial highlights that the President has been photographed cooking a steak at the Rancho Steak House after having lunch with friends; cleaning his shoes and tipping the shoe shine boy with RD$200; and carrying out official affairs attired informally, not with suit and tie of his predecessors. The Listín comments that the President is breaking with the formalities of the post, spending little time in the National Palace, and more on the streets with the Dominican people. Nevertheless, the newspaper concludes that it hopes that the new style of the President does not restrict the time he has available to dispatch delicate matters and receive foreign VIPs. "We want a President who looks like a man of the people but we also want one who looks like a President," concludes the editorial of the leading newspaper.
