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

[PoliSci2008]

CONSIDER THE SOURCE: WSJ supports FAT CATS, and John McCain supports FAT CATS, too.
WSJ article is stupid!! Majority of political and public figures and television personalities are slim or average in size and admired.

[emcd]

"Reasons" so far not to vote for Obama

funny sounding name
too black
too white
too tall
too thin
too healthy
too "not like us"
too charming
too intelligent
too popular
too likable
too dangerous
too radical
too moderate
too health conscious
too gym-rat
too good at basketball

what have I missed - must be lots more!

[rbrinega]

Astounding! This is an obvious sign that the McCain/Bush campaign keeps attempting to make this a referendum on Obama rather than Bush administration and and McCain's velcro attachment to the policies of that administration. They are currently running the perfect "content-free" campaign.

Unfortunately, it also wastes time for Obama and pushes him off message. Obama's campaign needs surrogates to pound on this and get the MSM back to talking about issues. And the candidate needs to correctly characterize the other group's campaign and immediately contrast himself by providing sufficiently detailed, but "sound bite"-sized policy prescriptions. That's going to be very, very tough, but not beyond the abilities of Senator Obama and his campaign. It worked on the the one pseudo-populist policy that Senator Clinton raised, the gas-tax holiday.

[laylahb]

At least "thinnies" like Obama and 34% of the non-overweight population will live a lot longer than the other 66%.

Is the WSJ playing the "thin" card and implying that we're not like "them"? G-d, I hope so..

[emcd]

This, along with all the other petty, ignorant, false or laughably small complaints, are not stupid and are in fact news. The Dem party, the Obama campaign, and supporters all minimize and ignore this AT THEIR PERIL!

They all belong the list of "reasons" than people will be able to give, either out loud to their friends and family, or in their own minds --- reasons why they can't, shouldn't, musn't as patriotic, "real" Americans, vote for this not-quite-like-us candidate.

Really, we need to realize these are all actual reasons why the polls are showing the virtual tie. I have spend all the time since July thinking they HAVE to be wrong, but the more this kind of CRAP continues to spew out of the Mc C camp and the MSM, now I'm not so sure.

[Marlyn]

John McCain is NOTHING "like us".

[not2plato]

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.

Yeah, that's what they are saying: "I can't relate to his background" or "I can't relate to his perceived values" and stuff like that. Yeah, WSJ, you are so f'n careful to get it right, aren't you?

[Marlyn]

or I can't relate to someone who is intelligent, educated, healthy ... who is popular around the world. This just isn't meeeeeeeeee.

[noodlebit]

I fully understand why I quit reading the WSJ a long time ago: this is the STUPIDEST piece of quote news unquote I've seen in some time, and there is a LOT of stupid "news" out there in the MSM. I'm just not sure why HuffPost bothered...

[alieninvader]

Too skinny...kinda like Paris.

[FaceYourFears]

Thin man......old man.......thin man........old man......old man is the greatest threat!

[Titonwan]

Thin man....met­huselah...­thin man....redwood tree....thin man....cretaceous rock is old!

[RaiHoney79]

Oh My Dear Jebus- that is the stupidest of the stupidest- seriously, the most inane "news" I've heard all year. Way to go WSJ!!!

[TiaGal]

I agree. Why are we even calling this news? I'm almost afraid to ask....how low can we possibly go? Why was this even printed? We really need to call for a higher standard!

[revko]

There goes the obese vote

[JRandomPoster]

It is hard to believe that people get paid to write this trash.

[blueollie]

Recent history;

Carter: avid runner, ran college cross country
Reagan: not fat; did the commercials which showed him chopping wood. The punch line was something like "if the President can make time to work out, so can you."

Bush I: avid runner; slender.
Clinton: ran almost every day, kept up an 8:30 mpm pace.
Bush II: avid cyclist; was an avid runner and even ran a 3:44 marathon (respectable time) at a younger age.

So, recent history does NOT suggest that this will be an issue.

[grf67]

This is crap. Does somebody get paid to write this stuff? Has the writer ever been in a gym?

[Soundofthunder]

Yes, I agree completely. Obama should weigh at least as much as this man:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft

Or drop out of the race at once!

SOT