Update:Who Dat?! Saints win! Watch President Obama play football on the South Lawn with Saints' quarterback and newly minted Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees here. Brees and the Saints will be invited to the White House later in the year. The Saints will visit the White House later this year, to be honored for their championship.
President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will host a party for Super Bowl XLIV this evening, when the Saints go marching in to tame the Colts. Military service members injured in Iraq and Afghanistan are invited, according to the White House, as are their families. It's a fun honor not included in the President's 2011 budget, which boosted financial support for military families by $8.8 billion. Mrs. Obama announced the funding at a special luncheon with military spouses, because supporting military families is another key component of her portfolio as First Lady. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki will also be at the pigskin party. (Photo: President Obama holds a special presidential football helmet presented to him during his visit to Elyria, Ohio, one of the stops on his White House to Main Street tour)
Three of the Cabinet Secretaries invited to tonight's Super Bowl party will join Mrs. Obama at the national launch of her child obesity initiative on Tuesday: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and Education Secretary Arne Duncan. At Thanksgiving, President Obama appeared in a PSA with Saints' quarterback Drew Brees to promote Fuel Up to Play 60, a child obesity initiative that's a co-program with Mrs. Obama's initiative. FUTP60 is a partnership between NFL, USDA and the National Dairy Council, and Sec. Vilsack recently announced that the program has now expanded to 58,000 schools nationwide.
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he project has NFL superstars visiting schools to promote healthy eating and physical activity, and encourages kids to play for at least an hour a day. It also has online electronic games to teach nutrition education, and uses social media for outreach to kids, so Sec. Vilsack just had his first-ever teleconference with bloggers (including your intrepid blogger). Sec. Vilsack cited FUTP60 as exemplary because it gets kids to learn about nutrition in a fun setting, as well as makes the important point that physical activity is not only necessary, but fun. He also said that the rapid expansion of the program really lets lawmakers know that there are millions of people demanding better nutrition in school food programs."As Congress gears up to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act, it's important that they're aware that there's a wide base of support for better standards," Sec. Vilsack told the bloggers. "We need to show a unified front on this."
Sec. Vilsack also lauded Mrs. Obama for her leadership in combating child obesity.
"You could not have a better spokesperson for this issue than the First Lady," Sec. Vilsack said. "As a mom and First Lady, she's a wonderful representative."
All 32 NFL teams are participating in Fuel Up to Play 60, and the National Dairy Council committed $250 million to the project. (Photo above from the game)
The lone Republican on the guest list for tonight's shindig is rooting for his home team, the Saints: Rep. Anh 'Joseph' Cao (R-LA).
The rest of the White House Super Bowl guests:
Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA)
Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA)
Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN)
Rep. Brad Ellsworth (D-IN)
Rep. Baron Hill (D-IN)
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA)
Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT)
Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan
Attorney General Eric Holder
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson
Secretary Janet Napolitano
UN Ambassador Susan Rice
