Has everyone lost their mind !?! Why do we want to vote for someone “like us”? …
Let me give you a few statistics and, then, you tell me why journalists, U.S. voters and lots of people who should know better are making fun of a Presidential candidate who’s skinny and setting an example by insisting that his staffers and family eat healthy…
Doesn’t anyone care that — according to the National Institutes of Health — we’re in an obesity crisis that’s costing the U.S. literally billions of dollars, for example:
- 65 percent of U.S. adults — or about 129.6 million people — are either overweight or obese.
- Obesity increases individuals’ risk for a whole host of diseases, with cardiovascular disease right at the top of the list; Obesity has increased at least 74 percent…and diabetes at least by 61 percent since 1991
- Obesity and overweight cost the Nation an estimated $117 billion in direct medical costs and indirect costs such as lost wages due to illness.
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Shame on Americans when The Wall Street Journal article “Too Fit to be President?”* needs to ask the question: “… in a nation in which 66% of the voting-age population is overweight and 32% is obese, could Sen. Obama’s skinniness be a liability? Despite his visits to waffle houses, ice-cream parlors and greasy-spoon diners around the country, his slim physique just might have some Americans wondering whether he is truly like them.”
Isn’t someone like us what we got with George Bush? Don’t you want someone smarter, wiser and healthier than you to be President?
Oh, and the same article mentions that it might be perceived as a plus that Obama’s having difficulty quitting smoking. Oh, now that’s a great attribute to vote for …
And shame on Maureen Dowd for her recent New York Times column: “May we mock Barack”, and I quote .”He’s already in danger of seeming too prissy about food” and she refers to The “lean ‘n’ green†catering guidelines which “bar fried food and instruct that, ‘on the theory that nutritious food is more vibrant, each meal should include ‘at least three of the following colors: red, green, yellow, blue/purple, and white.’ (Garnishes don’t count.) At least 70% of the ingredients should be organic or grown locally, to minimize emissions from fuel during transportation…If Obama gets elected…it won’t be the economy that’s depressed. It will be the rest of us.”
While I understand she’s cautioning him about his “other worldliness” when he needs to be perceived as more of a down-home guy, maybe somebody should be reminding the American public that ‘we’re over-the-top-fatties and that more cars are being made in Canada then Detroit because of American employee health care costs (yeah, I heard that from a recent CNN special) …
Somebody should be asking why the former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee was praised for trying to move his entire state into the healthy category while he personally lost 110 lbs … and even used that in his gambit for President …
So, for whoever wants to be “somebody,” isn’t it time to get a grip and a focus on what’s really important to America — Practicing what we preach about doing something beneficial for our HEALTH CRISIS is one of those things.
Thank you so very much,
Harriett
