Michelle Obama was caught eating a cheeseburger, the Baltimore Sun notes. For most of us, this is not headline fodder only an indication that the First Lady is a normal human being. But according to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), an activist group that poses as a health group, Mrs. Obama s occasional burger indulgence is a dangerous practice that must be stopped.
In her article, Andrea Walker ingenuously parrots PCRM s latest efforts to petition for an executive order that would keep President Obama, his family, and practically everyone associated with the White House from having their photographs taken while eating unhealthy foods. They argue that consumers will be negatively influenced if they see the First Family eating so-called junk foods, like cheeseburgers or pizza.
The article also reports that Michelle Obama was caught last year committing the horrible offense of going to the burger joint Five Guys for lunch with some staff. When it comes to bad eating habits, President Obama is no better, according to PCRM: He s been photographed eating hot dogs and cheeseburgers with other political leaders. As the group asks, why would the president allow himself to be photographed while eating pizza, when he wouldn t permit a public snapshot of himself smoking a cigarette?
How could anyone possibly compare eating a slice of pizza to smoking a cigarette? asks ACSH s Dr. Elizabeth Whelan. There is absolutely nothing wrong with showing a high-profile figure indulging in a calorie-dense food once in a while.
Of course, what Walker fails to note in her article is that PCRM, rather than being a physicans group as she terms it, is in fact composed of activists whose focus is on promoting a vegan lifestyle. They oppose eating any kind of animal product, says ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross, so it makes perfect sense that they would want to vilify the President and his family for eating these foods. But while that is simply their agenda, the journalist abdicated her responsibility to do even the simplest background check on PCRM before blithely enabling them to promote their message.