Nixon and Obesity

February 11, 2010 by admin | Filed Under Healthcare, Michelle Obama, Richard Nixon | Leave a Comment 

As the First Lady wages a campaign against obesity, the Associated Press reminds us that the fight has been underway for more than half a century.  President Eisenhower created President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, and tapped RN to head it.  In 1971, he looked back and pondered the issue:

In 1956, President Eisenhower called me into his office. You may recall this was the year after he had his heart attack. He had just read a very disturbing article with regard to the health of young Americans of high school age as compared with young people in Japan and European countries. And he said that it was essential that we develop a physical fitness program, one in which our young people would be more interested in physical fitness, more interested in it–recognize its importance to raise the standards.

I, as Vice President, was given the assignment of attempting to put some emphasis on this program. During the period that I was Vice President we made some progress in creating interest on the program…

[We} need to alert the people of this country, and particularly the young people of this country, that they can do something about their future to make them develop the health patterns which will avoid physical illness and very serious physical illness in the years ahead.

The Hug Felt Round The World

April 3, 2009 by Robert Nedelkoff | Filed Under Barack Obama, First Ladies, History, International Affairs, Michelle Obama, News media, Presidents, UK Politics | 1 Comment 

On Wednesday, President Obama and the First Lady visited Queen Elizabeth, who has now met every Chief Executive since Harry S. Truman (except for Lyndon Johnson, since she did not visit the United States during his term and he made only one brief visit to Europe during that time).

The highlight of this meeting came during a reception afterwards, when Her Majesty was seen talking to Michelle Obama and then putting her arm around her. The First Lady responded by putting her own arm on the Queen’s back and resting her hand on the monarch’s shoulder. Photographs, of course, were immediately taken, and within hours Britain and the rest of the world were abuzz about the royal “hug.”

Traditionally, visitors to Buckingham Palace and the other royal residences are advised not to touch the Queen – unless, of course, she elects to touch one first.

Variations from this rule have been few and far between. One notable example came in 1991 when HM visited Washington. After learning about a program to enable low-income households to buy houses, she ventured into that city’s Southeast section to meet one such householder, Alice Frazier. The 67-year-old cook, upon opening her door to find Elizabeth II, gave her the bearhug that, she said, all her visitors got. The Queen handled this variation on the usual decorum with aplomb, and the British press chuckled at this latest example of the unpredictable ways of Yanks.

But the next year when Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating put his around around HM, Fleet Street, along with the rest of Britain, was appalled, and the offending statesman was promptly dubbed “The Lizard Of Oz,” a nickname that followed him through the rest of his career.

And then, of course, there was the time in 1977 when Jimmy Carter visited London and kissed HM’s mother, the Queen Consort Elizabeth, on the lips. Though an article in London’s Daily Mail this week claimed that HM was tickled by this familiarity, the Queen Mum definitely was not, telling friends later that no one since her late husband George VI (who died in 1952) had ever done what Carter ventured to do.

The Daily Mail article (and one in the Daily Mirror) offers some interesting stories about meetings between the Queen and the Presidents over the years.

Nothing Succeeds Like Success

March 10, 2009 by Frank Gannon | Filed Under Michelle Obama, News media | 1 Comment 

Political Punch notices a shift to soft focus on the cover of The New Yorker.  

Remember when the New Yorker magazine depicted Michelle Obama as fist bumping militant, with an AK-47 on her back? That summer cover generated a lot of critical buzz, but oh how times have changed.

 

The magazine’s new issue, out next week, features a “runway” first lady — strutting the catwalk in three outfits — surprisingly with sleeves.

Inside, the magazine features a short article entitled “Baring Arms,” focusing on the first lady’s sleeveless fashion, accompanied by a picture of her favored designers Jason Wu and Thakoon Panichgul wrapped in an American flag.

Lately, the first lady seems to be the Cover Girl-in-Chief. She’s graced recent covers of Vogue, People and in a first, will share the cover of Oprah Winfrey’s O Magazine with the media mogul herself.

Grammy winner and actress Alicia Keys is featured inside Glamour magazine, dressed as Mrs. Obama, complete with Malia and Sasha look-alikes.

Of course, fair’s fair — and the candidate’s wife is now First Lady, which is a very different gig. 

In that department, while some observers are clearly head over heels and view the First Lady as Joan of Arc with an adorable family, others are decidedly unconvinced and cast her in the unflattering role of Lady Macbeth with biceps.