![]()
Former first ladies Barbara and Laura Bush worked to end illiteracy. Nancy Reagan famously took on teenage drug use. Lady Bird Johnson planted flowers. But none of them has been seared for something as seemingly benign as calling for kids to eat more vegetables, as Michelle Obama has.
Just about everyone will agree that the nation's children are getting fatter and that obesity is a serious health problem. But the first lady's push for healthier meals and more exercise, which marked its anniversary this month, has provoked a backlash from the right, who complain that the only thing here that's supersized is Big Brother.
Radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh last week suggested Obama is a hypocrite for dining on ribs and remarked on her waistline in the process.
That was just the latest offering in what has been a steady diet of criticisms.
Maybe the health and well-being of Americans takes a back seat to the profits of the food conglomerates that have caused this epidemic. Maybe the GOP have become dependent on campaign contributions from the vast weight-loss industry. In any case, their position is indefensible.