Michelle Obama's Ten Billion Dollar Beat-Up

Tweaks to children's diet can make a positive difference in their health, Michelle Obama told CNN's Larry King. Image Credit: CNN

Michelle Obama's Ten Billion Dollar Beat-Up

Let's be honest, we did not vote for Michelle Obama when we elected Barack Obama to the office of President of the United States. We only agree to allow her to live off of our public monies as the wife/spouse of the person we elect into this office. But something has changed with the approach to our understanding of how our elected ... and now, unelected positions ... that occupy our executive branch of Government.

On Tuesday, February 9th, 2010, the President of the United States signed an executive order establishing and funding to the tune of $10,000,000,000 (that is ten billion dollars or using a population number of 300 million people, a tax donation of $33.33 for every man, woman, and child in the United States) the "Let's Move" campaign that seeks to increase awareness and solve the problem of childhood obesity with a comprehensive approach that will encourage families and communities, schools and states, doctors and coaches, private industry and not-for-profits to work in a coordinated effort to attack childhood obesity on multiple fronts simultaneously. “We think that this has enormous promise,” the president said. Turning to his wife, he added, “It’s done, honey.”

Michelle Obama called for overhauling many federal laws and guidelines, including adding $10 billion over the next decade to “update” the Childhood Nutrition Act, which feeds 31 million children at school and would add funding to feed more children.

At this time of expansive Government debts, why can't the first lady issue a simple Public Service Announcement (PSA) and work through existing agencies and not-for-profit organizations without taking an additional $33.33 out of each and everyone's pocket (a family of four will be expected to pony up $143.33)? After all, doesn't this crowd have enough control over our lives?

This excerpted and edited from NEWSWEEK

Michelle Obama's Childhood-Obesity Plan: Reaching Out to America's Moms
Patrice Wingert, The Human Condition - NEWSWEEK - Posted Tuesday, February 09, 2010 3:26 PM

When Michelle Obama became first lady, she stressed that her "No. 1 job" would be "first mom." Following through on that focus, today at the White House she elevated her personal concern for her own kids' health and eating habits into a massive national campaign aimed at solving the U.S. epidemic of childhood obesity in a generation.

Calling the issue "one of the most serious threats to their future," Obama noted that childhood-obesity rates have tripled in the past three decades, and that the excess weight kids are carrying these days increases the risk of developing diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma. As a result, Obama said, she had "great concern" that too many of today's kids were on track to live shorter and less healthy lives than their parents, even though the problem is "so imminently solvable."

President Barack Obama signs the executive order giving Michelle Obama $10,000,000,000 of federal tax money for the "Let's Move" campaign that will be run out of the office of the first lady. Image Credit: Pablo Martinez Monsivais

"This isn't like a disease where we're still waiting for the cure to be discovered, we know the cure for this," Obama told an audience packed into the White House's State Dining Room. "This isn't like putting a man on the moon or inventing the Internet—it doesn't take some stroke of genius or feat of technology. We have everything we need, right now, to help our kids lead healthy lives ... so let's move to solve it."
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Not only did she call on schools to provide their students with healthier meals and more active playtime, but she said she would work to encourage communities to promote farmers' markets and recreation, pediatricians to write prescriptions for more vegetables and exercise, and the USDA to identify and eliminate "food deserts," often located in poor neighborhoods, where grocery stores don't exist and residents have little option but to buy junk food at convenience stores.
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And even though she has gotten flak for previously talking about how she struggled with this issue with her own kids, she didn't back away from expanding on her personal experiences, noting that childhood obesity is "an issue of great concern to me, not just as a first lady, but as a mom."
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But these days, she said, parents often work longer hours and can't always eat together as a family. The cost of fruits and vegetables has risen 50 percent faster than other foods in the past 20 years, making some of the healthiest foods more expensive. While government, private industry, and philanthropies can do some things to help, she stressed that the main responsibility for making healthy decisions for kids ultimately rests with adults, and encouraged parents, particularly, to lead the way by doing simple things, like replacing soda with water or skim milk, encouraging kids to walk places, cutting back on portion size.
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"Our kids didn't do this to themselves ... no matter how much they beg for pizza, fries, and candy, ultimately, they are not, and should not be, the ones calling the shots at dinnertime. We're in charge. We make these decisions. But that's actually the good news here. If we're the ones who make the decisions, then we can decide to solve the problem."

While the plan she laid out Tuesday was ambitious and multilayered, in the end, it may be her attempts to talk mom-to-mom that may make the biggest impact.
Reference Here>>

If it actually is "her attempts to talk mom-to-mom that may make the biggest impact" as this article suggests, then why doesn't Michelle Obama just issue a PSA as opposed to having her husband issue an executive order creating and funding with uncollected taxes, the ten billion dollar "Let's Move" campaign?

We can not afford the money or the "paid for" parental beat-up by this, or any, First Lady!