Doctors Group to Obama: Quit Eating Junk Food in Public
- Posted on May 9, 2012 at 2:52pm by
Madeleine Morgenstern
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AP
First lady Michelle Obama may have made it her mission tackle childhood obesity, but her efforts seem to have done little to quash her husband’s love of junk food: We’ve all seen the photos of President Barack Obama wolfing down his share of hot dogs, burgers and fries.
Now, a group of doctors has a message for the president: Quit eating junk in front of the cameras.
“The White House would never set up a photo op showing the president buying cigarettes, so why is it okay to show him eating a hot dog?” said Susan Levin, director of nutrition education at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.
The Washington-based group plans to launch a formal petition Thursday calling for an “executive order banning staged photo opportunities that show the president, the first family, the vice president, and members of the president’s cabinet eating unhealthy foods—including processed meats—that can cause cancer and obesity.”
“Processed meats like hot dogs kill more Americans each year than tobacco does, and they cost taxpayers billions of dollars in healthcare. As role model to millions of Americans the president has a responsibility to watch what he eats in public,” Levin said.
More from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine:
Since taking office, President Obama has posed for the cameras eating a hot dog at a basketball game with British Prime Minister David Cameron, eating cheeseburgers with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, and stopping at a D.C. burger restaurant to share a cheeseburger with a reporter, among other similar instances. His predecessors, including Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan have also been caught on camera eating unhealthy foods, from ice cream to a Big Mac.
The Petition for Executive Action argues that such photographs are better publicized than health messages like the USDA’s dietary guidelines, and are likely to add to ignorance about health and nutrition.
Widely publicized photographs of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt eating a hot dog are credited with popularizing what once used to be a widely disliked food. Now Americans consume 7 billion hot dogs between Memorial Day and Labor Day each year.
The petition also contends that the photo ops, often held at restaurants, are akin to free product placement by the public officials. For instance, President Obama gave the Five Guys Burger and Fries chain a publicity boost when he stopped at one of its Washington outlets in 2009 with NBC news anchor Brian Williams.
What do you think of the group’s claims? Take our poll below:
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Comments (66)
BurntHills
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 4:57pmwith some poor Americans starving right now as everyone else is so ‘concerned’ with that vile communist obama’s food, well, we opine it would be really fatefully-funny in his photo ops if der fuhrer-wannabe obama would be enjoying a HEBREW NATIONAL hot dog and God will decide =POOF!= that will be the end of obama, right on camera.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on May 10, 2012 at 2:01amWhat kind of Nazi Doctors are out to protect the “Fearless Leader” from his Diet?
Report Post »amerbur
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 4:54pmIt is no ones d… business what someone eats. Mind your own business.
Report Post »BurntHills
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 4:51pmthose photo ops of obama and all the hot dogs are really just designed by him for the pure enjoyment of his gay supporrters.
Report Post »MAMMY_NUNN
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 6:41pmHe also fantasizes.
Report Post »BurntHills
Posted on May 10, 2012 at 12:29amhe sure misses that Chicago gay bath house, doesn’t he.
Report Post »bsnrn98
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 4:44pmobama and michele can TELL us what to eat but doesn’t apply to everyone else. Just like a good dictator should ;)
bullcrapbuster
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 4:38pmObama’s “evolution” on gay marriage = FLIP-FLOP
Report Post »TRILO
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 4:28pmHot Dogs… Really? Do these people not have anything better to do than go after hotdogs? Maybe the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine should get the President to sign an executive order banning the overuse of prescription drugs on kids. Oh but wait, physicians/psychiatrists get to much of a kickback for the drugs they push. Not to mention, big pharma and the FDA are in bed with each other.
The world is exploding and they are worried about hotdogs.
Report Post »freedom_gurl35
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 4:24pm“Processed meats like hot dogs kill more Americans each year than tobacco does”? Does this mean I should expect Ms. Piggy to show up and mow me down with an automatic machine gun soon?
Who cares what this guy eats? I‘m more concerned about whether he can keep his wife’s trap shut on what I should and shouldn’t eat. It’s none of her business!
Report Post »AngryDwarf
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 4:12pmI don’t care what he eats. He could address the nation sucking on a bacon lollipop for all I care. What chaps my buns, is the lobster hound he’s married to trying to dictate what I should be limited to. If I want to eat a whole tri-tip, smothered in cheese enchiladas and chocolate pudding, that’s my decision, not hers.
Report Post »chips1
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 4:10pmHe is just promoting his gay marriage views!!!
Report Post »jungle J
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 4:09pmprogressives afrauds..they are do as I say not as I do people..they are the kings of today….only the sane understand.
Report Post »DDD
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 4:00pmHe can eat what he wants, whenever he wants – as long as the gov’t allows me the same. Otherwise, choke on it.
Report Post »ConstitutionFreedomLover
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 3:55pmI say let him eat what he wants…and then I will choose to eat what I want…without having the president or his wife telling me what to eat. It is my body. If I want to eat unhealthy and I get sick and kick the bucket…then so be it. But if I want to eat healthy…that is also my choice. I have a CHOICE and with choices…comes consequences whether it is a good choice I make or a bad choice I make. It is still my choice. And if the president wants to have pictures done of him shoveling food into his trap…let him. Just as long as he DOES NOT tell me what foods to eat.
Report Post »Belwraith
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 7:46pmwhether you eat healthy or not, your end result is the same: you’re gonna kick the bucket.
Report Post »carpee
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 3:41pmI’m more concerned with the photos of the POTUS hanging out with marxists and terrorists.
Report Post »Its Gonna Getcha
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 3:35pmI’m so proud of the results of this poll. It goes a long way in proving that many in America do not wish to dictate what other’s eat, nor want to be dictated to.
As for this guy in office, are you kidding? He’s done nothing but anything he wants to do. He “‘deserves it”. He’s the “president” (or dictator).
The only reason this topic is coming up in the first place is because of their stupid attempt at lecturing us.
Report Post »MN NICE
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 3:33pmI don‘t think he realized that a hot dog isn’t “dog”…
Ahhh, just reliving childhood memories!!
Report Post »FaithFamilyandFriends
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 3:40pmCan I just say that if they want us to eat tons and tons of broccoli, doesn’t that contribute to global warming? AWFULLY *****….
Report Post »HKS
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 3:22pmA person should be able to eat whatever he wants. It’s called freedom. Not just limited to Obama either.
Report Post »chips1
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 4:16pmOMG!!!! I need a Der Weinersnizle Chilli Cheese Dog. None in Missouri. I had to drive to Kansas to even get Jack in the Box tacos. 2 for $.99.
Report Post »MAMMY_NUNN
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 6:48pmWhen it comes to the same sex it becomes a health hazard.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 3:08pmWHOM can out Fascist the Fascist “Fearless Leader”? Surprise: DOCTORS!
Report Post »LeadNotFollow
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 3:08pm…
Report Post »He eats junk food in front of Americans, just to rub our noses in it.
Do as I say, not as I do. Typical Dictator behavior.
JP4JOY
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 3:07pmHe can eat whatever he wants.
I’d love to see a picture of him drinking a BIG glass of hemlock juice.
Report Post »Constructionist
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 3:06pmI think that the president should only be allowed to eat ideologically honest food in front of the cameras, such as Mau shakes or Keynesian fried chicken.
Report Post »deeberj
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 3:05pm“Processed meats like hot dogs kill more Americans each year than tobacco does, and they cost taxpayers billions of dollars in healthcare.”
These doctors are going off the deep end. I DO NOT want the gov’t involved in deciding what I may and may not eat, and this is the beginning of that. Some places are already doing it with trans fats and salt.
It is not the government’s place to tell citizens what to eat. They can educate if they think it’s worth the money (I don’t see that proving out) but they should not legislate.
Report Post »Dismayed Veteran
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 3:04pmThe Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has nothing better to do than count how many hot dogs, burgers and fries POTUS eats. Why don’t they become really responsible and work something like helping wounded soldiers. What a bunch of BS.
Report Post »Zurich
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 3:03pmAnd, which “group” is going to ask him to stop spreading lies in public?
Report Post »CatB
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 3:01pmLeave us all the H alone … I don’t need anyone telling me what to do or not do .. or how to raise my kids or grandkids … get the H out of our LIVES! I hope he eats lots and lots of junk food ;-) God knows he is one henpecked man-child .. and Mochelle is a bully!
Report Post »kickagrandma
Posted on May 9, 2012 at 3:00pmWhat that sorry excuse for a human being eats in private or in public is of no concern to this household.
That he is holding the highest office of our land, is.
In my lifetime, I don’t remember it being important or significant to us WHAT “doctors” said to do or not. Take their stand on smoking for example: even though they supposedly said to the public that smoking was dangerous to our health, the majority of physicians continued to smoke for many, many, many years.
Overreach, over control for years. By whom???? We need to ask the right questions, folks.
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