Really, Michelle? Is that the best you could come up with?

Michelle Obama, 'wow-ing' us with her athleticism (while wasting government money)

Almost two years have passed since the historic presidential election.  And after all this time, I still don’t understand the motivation behind Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign.  Obviously, I understand it on a logical level. Let’s assume that her decision is based off the following premises and conclusion:

            

          P₁:  As the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama has a duty to champion the most worthy cause

            

          P₂: Combating childhood obesity is the most worthy cause  

           

therefore,

           

         

          C: As the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama has a duty to combat childhood obesity

Ralph Wiggum, a prime target for Michelle Obama'e Let's Move Campaign

 With degrees from Princeton and Harvard, why can’t she see how stupid this campaign is?  I don’t mean to minimize the obesity epidemic in this country (though this post would suggest otherwise) but c’mon, son!  In comparison to things like our failing education system, homelessness, sexual predators, child trafficking, HIV/AIDS, etc., “how fat are our children?” is pretty puerile.  I mean seriously, are twinkies really the problem?  And not only is this stupid, but I’d be willing to bet money that it’s not going to be effective.  Sure, she invites some kids out once and a while on the White House lawn to do outside activities, but that’s only a small subset of the population.  The rest are not listening to her, because no one really cares.  The people who eat junk are going to continue to eat junk, and the parents who give their children junk will likewise carry on in the same manner.  Studying nutrition facts and calorie intake are not priorities when you’re a single mother working a minimum-wage job.  Oh, and not to mention you might not be able to understand the information on the food labels anyway if you are illiterate or can’t do math.  And why is she just trying to get healthier food?  How about we feed everyone in the country, and then we can focus on making it healthy.  She wants to trade the food we already have for healthier food, which is fine.  But what I'm saying is, if you want to focus on food, why not feed all the starving people?  And exercise?  Yeah, don't let your kids stay inside all day; make them go play outside.  Oh wait, I forgot.  It's 2010, and not safe for most kids to go play outside anymore.  Why don't you work on that, Michelle?  You're wasting time.   And this obsession with making people thin is getting out of hand.  Just ask Lincoln University.

This isn't as important as cellulite, apparently

The First Lady really disappointed me with this bullshit campaign, that cares more about a child’s BMI than his or her I.Q.  I was never a fan of hers anyway, so it’s not as though she shattered some idealized image I’d had (Michael Richards took care of that for me).  I’m not saying that she can’t care about childhood obesity.  It’s a problem that kids are increasingly more vulnerable to diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and the like.  I’m just saying that there are more important issues on the table, and more realistic goals.  There are things that take precedence over broccoli. People already know that exercise is good for them, that fruits and veggies are healthier than a bag o’ Funyuns®.  Does the First Lady really need to spend $1 billion to “educate” people on healthy eating, as if they don’t already know?