Stumbling Toward Enlightenment

GRIST | TOM PHILPOTT

Her husband got dealt a difficult set of cards in taking over the post-Bush II presidency—and has arguably played them quite badly. He now finds himself in a tight political corner: caught between an emboldened Right, an angry Left, and a shrivelled middle.

But Michelle Obama abides, as fabulous and beloved by the electorate as ever. She has built up a tidy store of political capital. She plans to spend it “by spearheading an initiative to reduce childhood obesity that, she hopes, will create a legacy by which she can be remembered,” reports Sheryl Gay Stolberg in The New York Times.

Reducing childhood obesity is a goal that few could argue with. But really it’s an appealing way to frame a massive problem with powerful vested interests behind it: a food system that churns out low-quality, environmentally ruinous food and robust profits for a few companies.

If the First Lady plans to confront the issue in a serious way, she’ll soon be knocking heads with those very companies. She has already gotten a taste of the coming pushback, just by planting an organic garden.

It will take every iota of Ms. Obama’s considerable grace, smarts, and popular appeal to “move the ball” (as she puts it) on the diet-related maladies that confront the nation’s children. The sustainable food movement has never had a more appealing or high-profile champion.

It’s official, because it’s been etched in the pages of our most sacred national chronicle. No, not the Federal Register — I’m talking about O Magazine.

Here’s the scoop: the Obamas will plant a veggie garden in the White House lawn. The First Lady of the United States told the Queen of the Universe as much, in an interview published in the latest edition of O. The excerpt available online doesn’t include the garden stuff, but Daily Green has the money quote:

We want to use [the garden] as a point of education, to talk about health and how delicious it is to eat fresh food, and how you can take that food and make it part of a healthy diet. You know, the tomato that’s from your garden tastes very different from one that isn’t. And peas — what is it like to eat peas in season? So we want the White House to be a place of education and awareness. And hopefully kids will be interested because there are kids living here.
Yes. I’ve waxed cynical about overstating the importance of the personal choices of First Families; and it’s critical to remember that a White House garden is a symbolic gesture, not to be confused with real change in a unjust, unsustainable food system.

But Michelle O’s sheer fabulousness has won me over. I honestly think she’s going to push her husband to break new ground in food policy.

Update [2009-3-19 15:5:48 by Tom Philpott]: According to a White House press release emailed to Grist, the First Lady isn’t procrastinating on getting in her spring veggies. Reads the press release: “Friday, March 20: The First Lady will host the groundbreaking of the White House Kitchen Garden on the South Lawn of the White House. She will be joined by students from Bancroft Elementary [a D.C. public school], who will be participating in the project from groundbreaking on Friday, to planting in the coming weeks and harvesting later this year.”

I’m excited about the news coming out of the White House these days! After eight years of near total news blackout, there’s a log of information coming out…in different ways…the blog, videos, RSS feeds, etc.

I’m actually listening, watching, reading the output. For example, yesterday I watched President Obama’s (I love saying that…President Barack Obama) weekly address, something I never did while Bush was in office. And each morning I spend some time reviewing the new posts on the White House blog.

There’s lots about the First Lady too, what she’s doing and saying. It’s such a breath of fresh air. And my excitement is still here, somewhat tempered by time and circumstance, but it’s still there.