A recent news article reports: “Michelle Obama said Thursday that a pledge by the Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants and its sister chains to serve healthier meals is a breakthrough moment for the industry. Darden Restaurants Inc. is pledging to cut calories and sodium in its meals by 20 percent over a decade.”
Needless to say, once Michelle is out of office and the need to kowtow to the media is eased, that promise will be quietly forgotten.
The article notes “Among promised changes for children, a fruit or vegetable side and low-fat milk will become standard with kids’ meals unless a substitution is requested. No more French fries for the little ones unless an adult asks for them. ’With this new commitment, Darden is doing what no restaurant company has done before, said the first lady, who joined executives of Orlando, Fla.-based Darden for the announcement at an Olive Garden restaurant in Maryland, just outside Washington. ‘This is a breakthrough moment in the restaurant industry. I believe the changes that Darden will make could impact the health and well-being of an entire generation of young people,’ added Mrs. Obama, who is leading an effort to reduce U.S. childhood obesity rates.”
One thing to remember about Democrats is that virtually everything they do has a political motivation. You don’t suppose this war on french fries might be a retaliation against Idaho farmers, who keep voting Republican.
One wonders what kind of political arm-twisting and coercion was applied to get a national restaurant chain to change their menu? Or promise to change their menu, in any case?
Then again, Obama failed to balance the budget, the US just got it’s credit downgraded and there’s a new rumor of impending financial collapse every month, if not every week. In a situation like that, it’s no surprise Obama is trying to put the nation’s focus on french fries.
Thearticle continues “Since the beginning of the year, McDonald’s, Burger King, Chili’s, IHOP, Friendly’s and more than a dozen other large and small chains have said they will begin replacing the French fries in children’s meals with fruit and removing enticing pictures of less healthy items from their menus. Diners [except for Mrs. Obama herself] are becoming more health conscious and are asking for improvements, such as for their meals to be cooked without butter or with less salt or to be prepared any way but fried. Then there’s Mrs. Obama’s campaign to bring down childhood obesity rates.”
These standards obviously are not applied to White House dinners; down through the past three years the media have documented White House feasts, which frequently include lobster (no doubt heavily buttered) and caviar. Mrs. Obama’s weight appears to yo-yo considerably, perhaps she gets the fat lipo-suctioned out of her generous African rear end every two or three weeks to avoid assuming the same husky proportions as a mountain gorilla.
Instead of dictating that children never eat french fries or red meat, perhaps parents should make their fat little lard balls turn off the television, turn off the computer, throw away the Nintendo and get their pudgy butts outside riding bicycles and running around playing, the way children are supposed to.
