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

[ShanniC]

This is bull$hit! Who is coming on with these ridiculous stories?! Since when is being in shape a bad thing? Why would you want a president who's health was on the decline? The MSM is puilling everything out their behinds to denigrate this man and this is the best that they have?! Next they'll say having a college degree, having a stable family relationship, and being well spoken is a crime. I can only console myself with the fact that the election will be here in less than a hundred days.

[nobillary1]

Lighten up, ShanniC; it's a bit of humor!
I think it's actually genius since we have very little to smile about in the GE so far. All the negativity that's been coming from the McCain camp has really had me down the last couple of weeks, so I find this very refreshing!

BUT, you know something? I just gave this a little more thought and I do have one concern:
Given the McCain camp's penchant for lifting things from the blogosphere and twisting them to their candidate's advantage, you don't suppose they'll now take this concept and run with it, do you? They will probably put out an ad later today that will accuse Obama of being "physically challenged" and unable to perform the job of POTUS.

Oy Amy; what have you rent??

[KnockoutEd]

"Next they'll say having a college degree, having a stable family relationship, and being well spoken is a crime"

---

they already say that it's called being an "elitist"

[mnash]

What a stupid comment!!!! I am thin, but I am definitely not an elistist. So now we get to compare thin, somewhat thin, chunky, a little heavy, fat to determine who should be president? Don't these people have better things to do than write garbage like this?

[alieninvader]

It is a stupid issue, but I think the significance is that the repugs are using everything in their arsenal to race bate without actually race bating. They say he's elitist (uppity). They say he looks funny. They are trying to show that he's too black while saying to the black voters that he's not black enough. It's tacky but it's subtle.

[tony2008]

if being smart, fit, popular, and likeable is bad, why don't you just drag some homeless guy from a street corner and put him in the white house and tell him he is the president. This is making me sick.

[VSamuels]

Or more aptly, he has a white mom is raised by 2 white grandparents, and white men and white women in this example says he is not like them or share their values----how laughable. For us black folks, this simply means that nothing other than being 'white' establishes that someone shares their values, and for anyone who has received anonymous sexual website data in their email, Obama should count himself lucky that he doesn't share the values of the numerous lurking predators and cuckolds who host blogs and websites not picked up by the MSM which undercuts the so-called 'values' argument attributed to our light skinned American brethren(s).

I would argue that those brave black folks who held on to their values while being denied the right of citizenship are far more noble than those who sat in their gated communities protected by hooded terrorists and pretended that America was this 'shinning star on the hill'. I know so, because I was raised by two beautiful and honest parents who in spite of a dad who fought in WWII still fought for dignity and honor in a society which now subjects his decendants to such simplistic reasoning and over reaction.

[Spesabsquemetu]

Yes, Barack is too thin, too ethical, too willing to return American voices and participation to the process we claim to be founded upon: Democracy.
We need more fat.
Fat liars, fat unethical conduct, fat bloated promises that leave the cycle of struggle, the cycle of poverty, the cycle of violence and destruction exactly where it's been at, with fatly decorated excuses for our failures, lost opportunities, perpetuation of diseases and the absence of universal health care, children hungry in America, failing schools, communities condemned to violence, and more fluff from journalists who really want to sink their teeth into something fat that can be used to continue to dumb down America with while the fat get fatter and the thin get thinner, and the spirit of democracy crumbles beneath our feet.

[Spesabsquemetu]

Forget the thin crumbling condition of American schools, the thin fabrications of claims that we educate - behind a system that allows children to FAIL in graduating from high school at numbers that are far to fat to talk about.
Forget the alarming correlations between violence, crime and America’s ignoring of how dropping out of high school is a predictor for bleak and costly losses to young promising lives and to our economy.

Forget the thin conditions of American cities, the failing economy, the violence that families live under, the siege that leaves Americans scrambling under an economy that leaves millions struggling to survive in America: duped by predatory lenders, jobless, poor beyond belief, taxed beyond equitable, uninsured, unable to afford health care needs, unable to feed families, unable to put some FAT behind their wallets - if but to simply survive their hope for that pursuit of happiness. Forget about the exasperated circumstances of hard working Americans being told that they need to pay more in taxes while the American dream becomes a privilege for special interests, millionaires, and corporate heads.

[Killjoy]

WTF????

[biglover]

Is this f'ng nonsense or what. This is how low politics has become and the state of our media. And huffpo too. I am disgusted

[yoli647]

And McCain is too old and sick to be President!

[jwatso7]

For the love of Pete!!! CAN WE PLEASE START TALKING ABOUT ISSUES HERE? Race card, elitism, Britney, age, weight . . .

People are suffering in this country. We're in a quagmire of a war. And we're worrying if one of the candidates is too thin?!?!?!

America is the greatest country on earth, indeed.

[Spesabsquemetu]

Why not delve into the real reasons why Obama might rock the boat as our next president?

He appears to be too ethical and actually value integrity. We cannot afford having an ethical president. After all, the Constitution might begin to look like a powerful framework from which democracy actually emerges.

Obama seems to be interested in restoring credibility in Washington. What might they think in the EU if our next president were to actually inform the American people with the truth concerning intelligence reports regarding terrorism around the world and how the US would respond to it?

Take a close look at his stance on energy, the environment and economic independence for all.
Can we really afford to have alternative sources of energy and skies that are blue?
Aren't you looking forward to the $5. a gallon yoke around your wallet?

Can we really afford clean air and a non-toxic environment that we leave to our children? Isn't the smut and toxicity, rising cancer rates, and all the devastation that has left American bodies under non attended to-collapsing bridges, tunnels and roadways amidst failing attentiveness to the infrastructures in our cities, children left to develop cancer inside toxic FEMA trailers, young people left to be shot and killed in their impoverished cities - just the main tourism attraction that we need here in America along with FAT $5./gallon gas prices?

[scouserinlondon]

OMG. You have opened my eyes........ well, that's my cheque for his birthday back in the cheque book.

[Peteyman]

Anyone remember William Howard Taft?

[Freesia2]

Uh huh. Taft got stuck in the White House bath tub.

And he caused a tub to overflow at a hotel when he plunked down into it and it flooded the dining room below.

This is why the President should always eat his arugula. Or stick to showers.

[biglover]

No. Wayyy to young to remember but I will look him up. Was he too think too?

[SeanGardner]

FIrst Obama wasn't BLACK ENOUGH.

Now he's not FAT ENOUGH.

what the F**K??????????

RIdiculous, stupid, and certifiably loony!

[indyny]

Apparently, he's also too smart.

Look, if the MSM wants the president to reflect the lowest common denominator of the population, I suppose our only choice would be some fat, stupid, slob laying on the couch eating potato chips while watching Montel Williams .........

[Bitsko]

And don't forget anxious. They like us anxious, so we'll buy all that junk they peddle.

[biglover]

I guess its better to be 72 - feeble minded, cancer ridden (or hidden)

[Marlyn]

"stupid, slob laying on the couch eating potato chips" ???

Not potato chips, eating pretzels.

[edwarvir]

Amy C go back to sleep.

[DrFitz]

This story is hilarious. I've heard it all now. Though I have to kid O's campaign and say if the WSJ doesn't watch out, they'll be claiming that's what Obama means about looking diffierent from the Presidents on the bills.