No Bun Intended   

          In spite of the fact that she is a lawyer who was educated at elite ivy league institutions, Michelle Obama seems like a very nice person and she has certainly comported herself with grace and dignity as First Lady of the United States.  To be sure, we are delighted to have our first African-American First Lady (and President, for that matter!), arguably the only good things that came out of the 2008 presidential election.  That being said, however, we must now ask, “where do you get off telling us what we can and can’t eat, Michelle?”

          Mrs. Obama is now trying to control the size of portions served in private restaurants as a way of tackling the obesity problem in the United States.  I see this as just another facet of the administration’s overarching desire to insinuate (see WOW) themselves into every aspect of our personal lives, now including what we put in our mouths.  What ever happened to personal responsibility and self-control?  Does this mean that we will now have to pay the same price for less food?  I always enjoyed taking home a ‘doggie bag’ and finishing my left-overs the next day.

          Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, a family physician from Alabama, has joined in the effort to promote Obama-rexia, the name Mrs. Obama selected for her First Lady Pet Project (a required activity designed to keep each White House spouse occupied).  Benjamin was widely roundly heavily strongly criticized for being significantly overweight when she was appointed by the president in 2009 as the nation’s top doctor.  Right about now you must be wondering when Mr. Obama, the first president in years to smoke in the White House, is going to insist that everyone else stop smoking!  Oops…forgot about Clinton and his cigars, but not sure if he actually used them for smoking.

          It is an interesting side note that, after ignoring First Lady Laura Bush’s health initiatives for eight years, many of the mainstream medical organizations are now falling all over themselves as they compete to be the first to embrace every suggestion Mrs. Obama makes, hanging on to every word she utters like sycophantic toadies.  Their newsletters are replete with praise and support for the Obama obesity obsession.  I believe this tells a lot about the motives of some of these groups and explains why competing organizations are sprouting up to offer an alternative.

          In the meantime, Mrs. Obama, I will be the judge of what I eat, how much I eat and when I eat it and I don’t need any help from you or anyone else, thank you.  I am an American, which means I am independent, self-sufficient, and self-reliant and I can actually think for myself.  It just so happens that I choose to exercise self-control in what I eat, but it is no one else’s business whether I succeed in that endeavor or not.