The Obamas, of course, don’t really care about American business unless it’s dedicating itself to achieving one of their inane social welfare goals—whether it’s “universal health care” or cap-and-trade or the fight against fat. Apparently the government even has the key to unlock the fitness secret. In his 2011 federal budget, Obama asked for a whopping $400 million to launch a national effort based on the Pennsylvania model.
This shows just how out of touch the Obamas are. Poor people buy things like Ramen noodles and boxed macaroni and cheese because they are cheap and filling—not because they’re sold around the corner at a convenience store. (By the way, both are tasty!) Who out there actually believes that once we blow $400 million that we don’t have on food cooperatives, poor people will start buying baby arugula, acai juice, and artisanal cheese? Has Michelle Obama ever really looked at what is distributed at a food pantry? Writer Matt Labash has, and during an appearance on my radio show, described it this way:
Guess what I didn’t see there? I didn’t see Swiss Chard, I didn’t see exotic Daikon radishes or whatever they are. I saw canned Dinty Moore beef stew and the other foods that make Malia and Sasha fat. Because poor people can’t afford the things that Michelle Obama is talking about. So it’s basically an insult. It’s a classist argument, it really is. It’s just a level of snobbery that makes me very uncomfortable. These people are lucky if they can afford iceberg lettuce. I don’t know if they understand there is a recession going on. Poor people can’t afford the food they are talking about.
Maybe poor people can’t, but left-wingers like the Obamas will do what they always do in their quest to achieve a socialist utopia—they’ll ask working Americans to pick up the tab. There aren’t enough rich people in our fifty states to pay for all the garbage they are trying to sell us. The fact is, now that we’ve seen the cost to our wallets and our freedom, more of us just want the government to leave us alone. We are tired of being lectured about everything from the amount of carbon we emit, to how high we set our thermostats, and now to what we put in our stomachs. What happened to the line that the government should keep its hands off our bodies? Our Bodies, Ourselves, etc.? Oh, that’s right, that applies only when a woman wants an abortion. Cheetos bad, abortions good.
FITNESS WITH A PURPOSE
Why should we even care about being fit? Especially when we reach adulthood, and are beyond most competitive sports, what’s the point? Sure, it makes us feel better, look better, and often live longer, but are there other, perhaps more compelling, reasons to get ourselves in decent shape? The answer is yes.
First, primal instincts compel us to do everything in our power to protect and care for our families. That job gets more and more difficult (and more dangerous) if we are carrying around an extra thirty or so pounds of fat on our bodies. I’m a bit of a fitness freak, yet I still feel like I get tired too easily when I am carrying my twenty-five-pound son on my hip while making breakfast. And I wonder whether I am conditioned enough to keep up with two children at a Saturday afternoon soccer clinic. Here’s the un-PC skinny: the more overweight and out of shape we are, the more difficult it will be for us to respond optimally in an emergency, and the tougher it will be to carry out everyday tasks and responsibilities. So why handicap ourselves this way if we can do something about it?
Second, maintaining a base level of fitness is also—pardon me for sounding corny—the right thing to do for the country. Yes, you read that correctly—for the country. Right about now you’re thinking, What? If I want to sit on my couch all day and pound Dove bites and root beer, that’s exactly what I’ll do. If I want to be a fat slob, I’ll be a fat slob. Certainly, that’s true. We are free to be as soft and out of shape as we want. We are also free to become maniacally obsessed with exercise for vanity’s sake. (You know, the people who constantly stare at themselves in the gym mirrors.) Or we can decide to reject both of the previous two options and simply commit to being as strong as we can be in the event that we are needed to stand in the physical defense of the country.
Think of the people trapped on the ninety-first floor of World Trade Center’s north tower who had to walk down ninety flights of stairs. Think of the firefighters walking up. What if one asked for your help? Could you get out of such a difficult situation alive? Or have you let yourself go to such an extent that you wonder if you would have the stamina or strength to survive?
Sometimes people don’t believe me when I tell them that I have had my own struggles with weight. In college, my cheeks were so big I looked like I had a perpetual case of the mumps. Diets never worked for me—things evened out when I started treating food as fuel, not as an indulgence. If you are driving, you don’t need to fill up with gas every time you’re down a quarter tank. When I started writing down every bit of food and drink I put into my mouth, it was shocking to realize just how much I was consuming when I wasn’t the slightest bit hungry. I was a classic college grazer. If a Snickers bar was lying around, I’d eat it. If a bunch of friends were going out for pizza and I had already eaten dinner, I’d join them and eat again. For the most part, I survived on Diet Coke and heavy, high-calorie, processed foods.
By age twenty-three, I had turned my eating dysfunction around. It wasn’t anything dramatic. I just made a conscious effort to fill up on the natural stuff—salads, lean meats, fish, whole grains, lots of water. Reorienting my food intake made all the difference. Oh, and I still ate junk food (and still do), but just didn’t (and don’t now) subsist on it.
No matter how old you are, no matter where you live, no matter how busy you are, you can, with a little dedication, increase your strength and fitness level in a relatively short period of time. This will vastly improve the likelihood of your making it through an emergency situation and helping those around you, too.
As Michelle Obama said—and didn’t believe for a nanosecond—we cannot legislate fitness. Each of us must individually commit to putting in the time and effort to make ourselves freedom forces of nature. This does not require the self-absorbed and narcissistic attitude that we’ve come to expect from the Obamas. All that is required is your personal resolve to invest some time and effort for the sake of your family and our nation. Eating right, exercising, getting enough sleep, drinking plenty of water, drinking alcohol only in moderation, not smoking—these are all important for our physical and mental well-being.
This isn’t a fitness or diet book, so this is not your resource for the perfect exercise routine. Unlike Michelle, I don’t claim to be an expert. But if you are reading this and feel like you want to do more to get in shape, then, as Nike would say, just do it. Consult with your doctor first—especially if you haven’t been exercising for a while—then develop a plan of action to reach your own patriotic fitness. With the resources available on the Internet, including social networking sites that cater to every conceivable fitness level, there’s no excuse.
Personally, I love the new group exercise trend of boot camps. They usually take a “whole body” approach to fitness, attract a wide range of ages and backgrounds, and make fitness fun. I’ll never forget the Navy SEAL boot camp I did in Richmond, Virginia, with a college friend and his son a few years back. What a blast—we ran up hills and through the woods and over rocks, and did sit-ups and push-ups. It was an advanced boot camp (find one for beginners if you are just starting out) and really tough, but everyone was encouraging to this newcomer and committed to finishing the hour strong. Friends in Dallas rave about the Coppell Fitness Boot Camps—thousands have had fun getting in shape and meeting new friends in the process. Not a bad deal for fifteen dollars per session. Odds are, with a few clicks on the Web, you can find a local exercise boot camp appropriate for your fitness level. Try it. Unless you really despise being with other people, you’ll like it.
As for your diet, take the same approach. Do some homework and use some common sense. Research your age group and weight loss goals and start talking to others about their own experiences with strategies t
hat work and those that do not. It sounds cliché, but there really is comfort in knowing that you are not alone. Don’t get discouraged because you don’t see immediate progress. Like anything in life that’s meaningful, it will take time and you’ll have setbacks along the way. Just remember that we need to keep our bodies tuned up and strong if we want to be active participants in the fight to keep America strong.
THE WINNING WAY
It was not until I had a child of my own—about seven years after September 11—that I actually started to put together my own survival plan in the event of a natural disaster or terror attack. This is particularly embarrassing given the fact that I stood a few hundred yards from the Pentagon in flames on the morning of September 11.
Being prepared for every conceivable contingency may not be possible, but there is a lot we can do to avoid the worst consequences of inaction. Look at what happened during Hurricane Katrina. Thousand of folks waited for the government to rescue them, instead of doing everything in their power to evacuate when told to do so. The sad truth is, through the Great Society’s social welfare state, we have enabled a generational dependency on government that has left millions of Americans vulnerable in an emergency. We must do everything in our power to reclaim that rugged individualistic spirit that helped us settle this nation and develop the world’s most powerful economy. We don’t want to be a nation of roof squatters.
The White House website recounts then-senator Obama’s commitment to rebuilding in New Orleans and his support for “legislation requiring disaster planners to take into account the specific needs of low-income hurricane victims.” How condescending. Poor people don’t have legs and brains?
There are many great sources for survival planning information available online, at no charge. The American Red Cross website has a helpful checklist of what you need to have in the event of different types of emergencies, such as in the event of a terrorist attack. Log on to the website and print out the list. Share it with your spouse, children, friends. For instance, regarding the “emergency preparedness” or “survival kit”, there are dozens of reputable Internet sources (too many to list here) where you can purchase everything from portable water filtration devices to solar blankets. You will have to spend some money to be in a state of preparedness, but remember, what you spend today could save your life or your family’s lives in the future. What you don’t know and are unprepared for can literally kill you.
We don’t need more government lectures or mandates or reports on healthy eating or exercise. The answers to any shortcomings we might have in either area won’t come from hypocrites in Washington, who think they know what we need better than we do. We are a strong, patriotic, practical-minded, and resilient people. We can, and should, become “fit to serve” on our own.
CHAPTER 6
WILL THE REAL MESSIAH PLEASE STAND UP?
THE DIARY OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
HONOLULU, HAWAII
December 24, 2009
Axe just called to wish us happy holidays. He was fishing for details about the “downtime” on my schedule tomorrow. The man actually asked whether we were planning on going to church! Apparently there have been some press inquiries. He said, “You should think about hitting the pews. We could use a photo op of the First Family dressed in their Christmas best.” This got me thinking—I haven’t been in a church since Easter (which is fine by me). I get my spiritual highs on Sundays with a cigar in my mouth and a nine-iron in my hands. I always tell Reggie, “If the weather is good, and there’s a ball on a tee— brother, I’m in heaven!”
I mean, I used to love going to church at Trinity. They had great singing, a hell of a rhythm section, and Reverend Jeremiah preaching truth to power. Where am I going to find that in Hawaii? The best I’m going to get here is a Joel Osteen wannabe with a ukulele.
On the other hand, maybe I do need a time-out, a moment to reconnect in silence with my deepest thoughts. There is something moving about being among like-minded believers in prayer—like my visit to the Blue Mosque in Turkey. That was powerful. And I do love the old black church hymns. Some of my best ideas came sitting in a pew, swaying to that music: The title for The Audacity of Hope, a clear understanding of the deep-seated racism in America, and the confirmation that there was something uniquely divine in me. Hallelujah!
Yeah, it’d be good to get back to church. Why not give the congregants a little excitement? They’d enjoy seeing us—and Michelle can get all dolled up for the press. I’ll have to tell Secret Service to back off a little bit should the people start waving those palm branches at me as I enter. (Is that what they do at Christmas?) Maybe they’ll just come forward with frankincense and holly, or whatever the Hawaiian Christians do these days. I’d better bone up on the Christmas story in the Bible in case they want me to say a few words. I’m a natural in the pulpit. It would be good for them to hear the Chicago-style spark that Reverend Jeremiah gave me.
Hmmm . . . on second thought, my abs are looking a little soft. I think I’ll just go to the gym with Michelle in the morning. Sorry, Axe, there’s more than one way to worship.
Barack Obama never seems entirely comfortable with religion or religious people. He seemingly holds the entire enterprise at a distance, the way a museum curator might appraise a collection of Nazi art or medieval torture devices. Religion is an interesting curiosity to Obama, even a nice indulgence once in a while—but not something that should get in the way of livin’ large.
There is no denying that the religious views of our elected leaders profoundly affect our country’s domestic and even foreign policy agendas. Think of George Washington’s reliance on the “all-powerful Providence” of God during the War for Independence and throughout his presidency. Think of Ronald Reagan’s almost spiritual attachment to Pope John Paul II and their mutual commitment to bring down communism. Think of Barack Obama’s speech to the 2009 graduates of the University of Notre Dame.
His literal and metaphoric road to the venerable Blue & Gold was lined with protests. More than seventy bishops and tens of thousands of Catholics signed their names to petitions urging not that he be disinvited, but rather that he not be given an honorary degree. This, after all, is a school dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The U.S. bishops had a policy in place that forbade Catholic institutions from honoring or even granting a platform to individuals who dissent from Church teaching—particularly on essential matters such as the right to life or the sanctity of marriage. Given his radically pro-abortion stance and the anti-life policies advanced by his administration, it is clear that Notre Dame had made a terrible mistake.
Yet there he was, invited and encouraged to attend by members of the Catholic left, who consider the Church’s life teachings to be optional, repressive, and outdated. The numerous pro-Obama clerics and officials who engineered this moment could not publicly dissent from the Church for fear of punishment, but they were more than willing to have Obama do the dissenting for them.
This image of the president striding onto one of the most important Catholic platforms in America represented a pivotal turning point in the relationship between faith and government. In the course of his address, Obama would seek to establish himself not only as a secular spiritual authority, but as the last word on the role of faith in America.
The president began by listing a host of challenges facing the world, from “global recession” to “violent extremism,” to “the spread of nuclear weapons or pandemic disease.” He then offered these telling lines:
“. . . No one person, or religion, or nation can meet these challenges alone. Our very survival has never required greater cooperation and greater understanding among all people from all places than at this moment in history.”
It all sounds very reasonable. “No one person or religion . . . can meet these challenges alone.” But this was an odd assertion coming from someone who claims to be a Christian, since Christians, in fact, believe that Christ is the answer to every question. Christianity makes the
bold pronouncement that the King of Kings and the Lord of the Universe possesses the answer to all our challenges. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Indeed, Christians hold that their religion—their Christian faith—is exclusively capable of moving mountains. So yes, Mr. President, there is a “religion” that can meet these challenges alone—it is the one you profess.
He went on to plead for some sort of “common ground” on contentious moral issues. Speaking of embryonic stem cell research, Obama said:
“Those who speak out against stem cell research may be rooted in an admirable conviction about the sacredness of life, but so are the parents of a child with juvenile diabetes, who are convinced that their son’s or daughter’s hardships can be relieved. . . .”
This false moral equivalency is typical of the left, and illustrates why faithful Catholics objected to the president’s appearance at Notre Dame. He used the platform to confuse and distort elementary Catholic teaching. As any first-year theology student can tell you, our desire to extend life cannot come at the cost of another human life, period. Surely the president can understand this basic ethical reasoning. Though it is doubtful that he does. With abandon, he rhetorically cast the Church teaching on abortion as some narrow special interest, beneath the dignity of the enlightened. He told the Notre Dame graduates:
When we open our hearts and our minds to those who may not think like we do or believe what we do—that’s when we discover at least the possibility of common ground. That’s when we begin to say, “Maybe we won’t agree on abortion, but we can still agree that this is a heart-wrenching decision for any woman to make, with both moral and spiritual dimensions.” I do not suggest that the debate surrounding abortion can or should go away. . . . [T]he fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable. Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction. But surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature. Open hearts. Open minds. Fair-minded words.
The Obama Diaries Page 17