Update: A post about the meeting is here.First Lady Michelle Obama's national campaign to combat childhood obesity is having a roll-out that is approximating that of a Hollywood tent pole movie, with a series of high-profile events leading up to the premiere. Today, the White House has announced the official launch date for the First Lady's campaign, after hinting at its start date for the last month: Next Tuesday, February 9.
Tomorrow, there will be another major White House event on the way to the launch. The First Lady will host a meeting at the White House, in the Old Family Dining Room, with Cabinet Secretaries and key administration members serving in leadership roles on childhood obesity policy. According to the White House, they will discuss combined efforts to create national awareness of the dangers of childhood obesity and the simple steps families, schools, the business and non-profit communities and all levels of government can take together to solve it. The fact that the meeting is occurring in one of the White House dining rooms is perhaps a bit of unintentional irony. Or perhaps not.
Attending Mrs. Obama's White House meeting tomorrow: Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack; Education Secretary Arne Duncan; and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The crucial Congressional component: Senate Agriculture Chair Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Agriculture Committee Ranking Member; Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair; Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY) Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Ranking Member; Rep. George Miller (D-CA), House Education and Labor Committee Chair; and Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN), House Agriculture Committee Chair.
Mrs. Obama's campaign was first previewed on the national stage on January 20, when she spoke to America's mayors during their annual winter conference in DC, and asked them to join her initiative. Last Thursday, she held a mini summit on child obesity at the YMCA in Alexandria, Va, where she was joined by Surgeon General Regina Benjamin and Secretary Sebelius. The campaign, so far, has received much lauds, because of the high prevalence of child and adult obesity in America, with an estimated one in three children overweight or obese, and more than half of US adults suffering the same health crisis. Over the weekend, however, Mrs. Obama's campaign garnered international headlines thanks to a story that was filled with critical bits of minsinformation in the UK's Daily Mail, and which also chided the First Lady for mentioning her own children's weight issues in her public remarks. There has also been other pushback around the mediasphere from those worried that Mrs. Obama--and the entire administration--are becoming "the food police."
*Getty photo.
