First Lady Michelle Obama: "we've got to make it easier for families to do the right thing."

Since the time of Lady Martha in the 18th century, first ladies have held a highly visible position in the U.S. government, often giving them room to take on signature policy issues.

Among examples: Dolley Madison advocated for orphans of the War of 1812. Eleanor Roosevelt wrote columns for magazines and newspapers, hosted a radio show, and authored several books. Abigail Fillmore helped create the first permanent reference library of the White House. Bess Truman and Mamie Eisenhower were hostesses and charity patrons. Caroline Harrison was the first president-general of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Lou Hoover was national president of the Girl Scouts and used their efforts to alleviate suffering through the Great Depression. Margaret Taylor supported an organization that educated children in religious subjects on Sunday mornings. Lucy Hayes supported the aid for orphans as well as promoted the education of Native American, African American girls, and Civil War veterans. Florence Harding supported organizations that practiced humane treatment of animals. Jackie Kennedy was historian and a promoter for art and culture. Lady Bird Johnson sought to unclutter public highways by removing unsightly billboards. Betty Ford got involved in women's issues such as the Equal Rights Amendment. Rosalynn Carter showed concern for people with chronic mental health problems and also led global relief efforts. Nancy Reagan was known for her campaign to dissuade children from illegal drugs. Barbara and Laura Bush both led efforts in literacy. Hillary as First Lady headed a health care reform effort to provide insurance to all Americans.

And now First Lady Michelle Obama has also found her niche.

It was almost a year ago that Mrs. Obama started her vegetable garden with students from Bancroft Elementary School in Washington, D.C. Through use of the garden, Michelle grew her plot of the Let's Move campaign, which was nationally announced this past February. Her big idea, if you haven't heard by now, is a national goal to solve childhood obesity within a generation.

The campaign plans to engage every sector which possibly has an impact on the health of children to help schools, families, and communities help kids be more active and eat better. Its purpose is for encouraging, supporting, and pursuing solutions for families.

Who is involved?
After President Obama signed the Presidential Memorandum creating the Task Force on Childhood Obesity, the First Lady launched the Let's Move campaign at the White House where she was joined by Agriculture Secretary Vilsack, HHS Secretary Sebelius, Education Secretary Duncan, HUD Secretary Donovan, Labor Secretary Solis, Interior Secretary Salazar, Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, Members of Congress (see next paragraph), mayors from across the nation, leaders from medical, sports, entertainment, and business communities who say they want to help the First Lady solve our obesity problems.

There were four senators and two House members in the meeting: Senate Agriculture Chair Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and ranking member Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.); Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chair Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and ranking member Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.); House Agriculture Chair Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), and House Education and Labor Chair George Miller (D-Calif.) who said:

• "As we work to rewrite our child nutrition laws this year, we must focus on eliminating any barriers to these programs, so that all eligible children have access to healthier foods and nutrition education whether in school, child care, or at home."  Miller

Tom Harkin so graciously added that "The First Lady is rightly addressing this issue on every front."

Some of the media companies involved include the Walt Disney Company, NBC, Universal, and Viacom who agreed to join the First Lady's effort by filling the air waves about obesity so that the public can be aware.

A new organization to help implement more government regulations called the Partnership for a Healthier America  is being created by a number of leading health care foundations and childhood obesity non-profits, including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The California Endowment, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, The Alliance for Healthier Generation, Kaiser Permanente, and Nemours. To help with this looming project, new project members will be chosen throughout the months ahead.

How does it work?
The Child Obesity task force will conduct a review of every single program and policy relating to child nutrition and physical activity, set a goal, and develop a national action plan to use tax money and set benchmarks toward the goal.

The newly formed Partnership for a Healthier America will speed up existing efforts and offer new commitments towards solving childhood obesity within a generation. Michelle claims:

• "The physical and emotional health of an entire generation and the economic health and security of our nation is at stake. This isn't the kind of problem that can be solved overnight, but with everyone working together, it can be solved. So, let's move."

Michelle acknowledges that parents can play a role in choices for their children but since they are so busy today, the Administration, along with partners in the private sector and medical community, will be glad to help them with support and information to make healthier choices for their families.

LetsMove.gov will help people understand childhood obesity and provide helpful tips for parents. It also gives regular updates for those few who are interested on how the federal government is working with partners to reach the national goal.

The Food and Drug Administration will make businesses come up with new package labeling of information for people to look at when making choices of what to eat. (This was recently already done in the 1990's.)

Doctors and nurses across the country will even get some education about obesity, and they will be told to regularly monitor children's BMI and provide counseling for healthy eating. They are instructed to prescribe what parents can do to increase healthy eating and active play.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will work to put a new spin on the food pyramid.
USDA has also created the Food Environment Atlas which helps people identify the existence of food deserts, referring to Americans who live in low-income urban and rural neighborhoods that are more than a mile from a supermarket.

Lack of access is one reason why many children suffer food insecurity and are not getting recommended levels of nutrition. However, global nutrition professor Barry Popkin of the University of North Carolina informs that a January 2009 workshop he chaired at the Institute of Medicine “could find no evidence that adding new retail stores to depressed areas changed what people consumed.”

Nevertheless, the Administration would like to eliminate those food deserts within seven years. In the upcoming budget, the WH administration announced the new Healthy Food Financing Initiative, a partnership between the Departments of Treasury, Agriculture, and the Health and Human Services for $400 million a year to help bring grocery stores to underserved areas and help convenience stores carry healthier food options.

• "In other words, the Healthy Food Financing Initiative is nothing more than a feel-good program that uses taxpayers’ money to help politically favored businesses locate in areas that are otherwise unsuitable for their operations. As with most public-private partnerships, profits will be privatized and losses socialized." Michael Tennant of New American magazine

In addition to all of the words above, the Administration, through new federal investments and the creation of public private partnerships, will propose an additional $5 million investment from the President's fund into the Farmers Market Promotion Program  which provides grants to establish and improve access to farmers markets.

Upgrade school breakfast and lunch
The School Nutrition Association, which represents food service workers in more than 75% of the nation's schools, will also increase awareness of obesity among their members and the students they serve. They will be regulated to ensure that nutrition programs in 10,000 schools meet the Healthier US School Challenge over the next five years.

The Healthier US School Challenge was established in 2004 to recognize schools participating in the National School Lunch Program to create healthier school environments through promotion of nutrition and physical activity.

Access to better meals at schools will be implemented because there are more than 31 million children participating in the National School Lunch Program and more than 11 million participating in the National School Breakfast Program.

That number will increase, and an additional $10 billion over ten years is requested to improve the quality of the National School Lunch and Breakfast program, accommodate more kids that will be participating, and check that schools have resources to make program changes: training for school food service workers, upgraded kitchen equipment, and additional funding for meal reimbursements.

Physical Activity
Through public-private partnerships and through reforms of existing federal programs, the Administration will:

• name new members to the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports to increase participation, modernize, and expand the program.
• challenge both children and adults to commit to physical activity five days a week, for six weeks. The number of children in the 2010-2011 school year who earn a "Presidential Active Lifestyle Award" will double from last year.
• with the U.S. Department of Education create a Safe and Healthy Schools fund as part of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary School Education Act this year. This fund is for schools who try to improve their school environment and get children physically active in and outside of school.
• accept promotion from some professional athletes concerning "60 Minutes of Play a Day."

Summary
Mrs. Obama explained, "The idea here is very simple: to put in place commonsense, innovative solutions that empower families and communities to make healthy decisions for their kids. That includes increasing the number of 'healthy schools' where kids have access to nutritious food; providing more opportunities for kids to be physically active; ensuring that affordable healthy food is available in more communities; and giving parents the information they need to make good choices for themselves and their families.”

That's quite a niche.  In other words, unlike first ladies of the past, it appears she will be directing billions of dollars to use for fluff, a lot of words to describe nothing new or special.  Or is there more to it?

• "Behind every seemingly good deed in the Obama White House, there's a deep-pocketed, left-wing special interest. Take first lady Michelle Obama's crusade against childhood obesity. Who really benefits from the ostensible push for improved nutrition in the schools? Think purple -- as in the purple-shirted army of the Service Employees International Union. Big Labor bigwigs don't care about slimming your kids' waistlines. They care about beefing up their membership rolls and fattening their coffers." Michelle Malkin

Cost
Before leaving for the summer recess, the Senate passed a smaller version (HR 5044) of the legislation that is paid for by trimming the food stamp program. The House will next consider $8 billion to cover expenses for the First Lady's anti-obesity niche.

The House will have to take into account more slashing of the food stamp funding. This is a prospect upon which they are now balking.

See: Obesity Rates in Washington state, click here. 

Obesity Community Task Force created in 1999 in Virginia. "In 2002, we officially became the Community Obesity Task Force to bring attention to the larger obesity issue."
California also has an obesity task force, as does Alabama, Alaska, Texas, and other states.

Video, 'Nice job, Honey.'     Video, Children to learn about physical activity through computer games.
First Lady and 20 attendants (2009), click here.    Open letter to Michelle Obama, click here.