Prominent Republicans Defend Michelle Obama’s Anti-Obesity Campaign

When First Lady Michelle Obama unveiled her “Let’s Move” anti-childhood obesity campaign, many leading figures on the reactionary right decried her efforts as typical nanny-state socialism. Conservative radio firebrand Rush Limbaugh fumed that the First Lady was “requiring what everybody can and can’t eat. She’s demanding that everybody basically eat cardboard and tofu. No calories, no fat, no nothing.” Limbaugh, who has so much mean-spiritedness  pumping through his cold blood that he could rightly be called a one-man hate group, even went so far as to attack Mrs. Obama’s personal appearance.  Calling her a “hypocrite,” the portly Limbaugh said “our First Lady does not project the image of women that you might see on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.”

Sarah Palin, 2008 vice presidential candidate-turned reality TV flopstress, used her TLC show “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” as a platform to slam Obama’s laudable effort. Making s’mores, America’s beloved campfire treats made of roasted marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers, Palin jabbed “This is in honor of Michelle Obama, who said the other day we should not have dessert.”

Well, it turns out not all Republicans think what the First Lady is doing is a sign of government overreaching its boundaries. The Wall Street Journal reports that former Arkansas governor and probable 2012 GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and current New Jersey Governor Chris Christie have spoken out in support of Obama’s initiative.

Huckabee, who lost 110 pounds in 18 months while Arkansas governor, appeared on “Fox News Sunday” and corrected the conservative dimwits who think the First Lady wants to ban dessert. “What Michelle Obama is proposing is not that the government tells you that you can’t eat dessert,” he said. She only wants Americans “to recognize that we have a serious obesity crisis–which we do.” Huckabee called the nation’s obesity epidemic “an issue of national security” since many young adults are too fat to pass the military’s physical entrance requirements.

Governor Christie, appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” said “I think it’s a really good goal to encourage kids to eat better.” The 300-plus-pound Republican invoked his own bulging waistline in his defense of “Let’s Move.” “I struggled with my weight for 30 years,” he said. “If a kid can avoid that… more power to them and I think the First Lady is speaking out well.”

 

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