WSJ: Obama May Be Too Thin To Be President

The Wall Street Journal's Amy Chozick warns Barack Obama of another potentially elitist personal trait -- he's too thin:

Speaking to donors at a San Diego fund-raiser last month, Barack Obama reassured the crowd that he wouldn't give in to Republican tactics to throw his candidacy off track.

"Listen, I'm skinny but I'm tough," Sen. Obama said.

But in a nation in which 66% of the voting-age population is overweight and 32% is obese, could Sen. Obama's skinniness be a liability? Despite his visits to waffle houses, ice-cream parlors and greasy-spoon diners around the country, his slim physique just might have some Americans wondering whether he is truly like them.

The candidate has been criticized by opponents for appearing elitist or out of touch with average Americans. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll conducted in July shows Sen. Obama still lags behind Republican John McCain among white men and suburban women who say they can't relate to his background or perceived values.

Comments

[RFBorjal]

Maybe Chozick was just worried that it would be very easy for a thin President to hide in the cloakroom closet with a White House intern.

[ecotopian]

Would they have said the same thing about JFK or Teddy Roosevelt? Both of those men were in their forties when they became president. They were younger than most man who have attained the office of president. What is galling to the Mac campaign is O's age and the shape he is in. O is the prime of life and it shows. Mac isn't and it shows. The question comes down to who do you think has the vigor to withstand the pressures of the office of president? Someone who still shows the signs of youth and virility. as O does and JFK did? Or someone who looks like death warmed up, like Mac?

[AnneOlivia]

I agree.

[naijaman]

Is this a joke? Someone please shoot me already....Gawd...

[MrJoyboy]

The neocons sure have a lot of propaganda outlets in this country. Wisdom and decency thrown to the curb. Money rules!

[Ides]

Abraham Lincoln was a twig. What's the big deal?

[MufsMom]

Oh good Lord, this is beyond pathetic. Rupert has truly destroyed the WSJ.

[MajorKong]

Come on Wall Street Journal! You're just phoning it in. You can do better than that.

[BigGuy]

He was a pudgy kid in Hawaii and Indonesia and stayed pudgy until he started playing ball in high school. Hawaii is filled with natives and mainlanders who've gone native who are fat and stay fat. In Hawaii, Indonesia, and rural Kansas overeating is common and not frowned upon. In fact, it's encouraged for kids and young adults in all three cultures.

Where he grew up, and how he grew up, being fat is no shame. He trained himself to take care of himself, to dislike sweets and to dislike feeling full. That's not easy and it's not automatic, even for a man with a thin build.

This is a reason to admire Barack and I do.

[realpolitic]

Yes, McCain will come out with a commercial that says Obama will legislate 1000 calorie a day diets for all Americans and we must walk to work from now on.

[Jaradan]

LOL! Maybe he should.

[walkthewalk]

What has happened to the respected WSJ? Oh, that's right, Rupert Murdoch bought it. Send in the clowns.

[Rutabaga]

Oh, good God, is this for real? Just how desperate are people, trying to throw any reason why Obama might not be qualified against the wall and just waiting to see which reason, no matter how trivial or stupid, sticks? What a waste of time!

[Canukistani]

To put the Republican arguments together for them then, Americans should want a fat stupid president that can't give a good speech and who foreigners hate.

[Jaradan]

LOL Basically. Whatever is opposite of Barack.

What we won't be hearing them say is that Americans deserve a president who's actually smarter than most of us (because, duh, he's supposed to be LEADING US), healthy enough to make it to the end of his term, and able to negotiate with foreign leaders to promote American interests by keeping as many Americans alive as possible. No, we won't hear them say that because the answer is OBAMA.

If we elect McCain as president, we deserve the president we get. Just like we deserved Bush these past 8 years.

I'll be reading about my former country from the Caribbean after Nov.

[edwarvir]

wsj a MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE!

[brijit]

It wasn't all that long ago that the WSJ was considered a very serious newspaper. What a difference a Murdoch can make.

[imusintheevening]

You got that right! Who cares about the trash that The Wall Street Enquirer prints?

[brocko]

He watches his figure like a girl does!

[AnnieinOR]

it''s called being weight conscious - Blacks have a high incidence of diabetes, and weight is one of the reasons - something all of us should think about.