I am not amused by fat jokes but I will say this: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is probably not the best messenger for this.
If he is elected president, Christie told 11-year-old Jacob Royal on Monday while campaigning here in Iowa, he can go back to eating “whatever you want to eat" at school.
"The first lady has no business being involved in this,” Christie told Royal during a town hall at a Village Inn, a restaurant chain that Christie said is a favorite of his to frequent when he comes to Iowa.
“Using the government to mandate her point of view on what people should be eating every day is none of her business, it just isn’t,” Christie said of Mrs. Obama.
Christie went on to say that he wants everyone to healthier meals, but that is somewhat contradicted by his telling an 11-year old boy that should be able to eat whatever he wants.
I can tell you from experience that if you tell an 11-year old boy that he can eat whatever he wants, he's going to eat pizza, french fries, and cheeseburgers every day. But more importantly, 11-year-olds are going to eat that every day if that is their only choice.
Creating a healthy school lunch program is not about Big Government telling kids what to do; it's about looking out for them when no one else can or will. There are millions of American children whose only significant meal of the day is the free or reduced-price lunch they receive at school and some people believe, myself included, that we have a duty to ensure that children have an opportunity to eat the right thing at least once a day.
The school system I attended as a child served pizza and french fries literally every single day. Your choices were either that or whatever mystery meat/slop they were serving on that given day. Most kids chose the pizza because it was a known quality while the "hoagie on a bun" was dubious at best. None of us were convinced the chicken nuggets actually contained chicken.
It's possible things have improved since I last attended a public school system in 2001, but I would generally say we serve children pure shit at schools in this country. First Lady Michelle Obama should be applauded for making an effort to improve it.