Posted by: Audiegrl
Washington Post/Robin Givhan~~First lady Michelle Obama sits in an upholstered armchair in her East Wing office, a generous bowl of fresh apples on a nearby table. She wears a body-conscious gray sleeveless sheath with an artful corsage of matching fabric decorating the right shoulder. A petite Georgetown student — one of the young ladies from the White House mentoring program Obama established last year — quietly observes as the first lady discusses the role physical fitness played in her Chicago girlhood.
The tableau contains all the elements that have defined Obama’s time in the White House: youth outreach, distinctive style, healthful food and fitness. Of all these, nutrition and physical activity are key to the legacy Obama would like to leave. They’re essential to her national rallying cry to end the crisis of childhood obesity in a generation.
Obama launched her sweeping initiative, Let’s Move, in an early February publicity surge that had her discussing “food deserts” and the urgency of clearer labeling. She lobbied the National Governors Association before its members partied at the White House. She visited schools and at a Philadelphia grocery store pulled out a $20 bill to buy a banana-strawberry smoothie. The statistics she has repeated are both jarring and daunting: One in three children is overweight or obese. The dollars she has proposed the federal government dedicate to the dilemma are significant: at least $10 billion over 10 years.
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