Is Chris Christie too fat to be president?
I think the answer is clear: no. I also think the question deserved to be asked.
My own history with obesity is here, in all its gory glory. Fat stigma is an anathema to me, and I wish that we could ignore the issue entirely. We can't. And that means that the fat of Christie's will inevitably bleed over into the zone that perpetuates stigma and stereotypes. We have to find a way to judge Christie's weight in the context of what the job of being presidential entails, and then, at the same time rigorously segregate it from any other type of judgment. If we can answer the question, then we ought to accept that answer and move on.
Christie himself has acknowledged that his weight raises the probability that he will acquire debilitating medical conditions, and has thus admitted to the public square a fact about his body that requires communal judgment. We should base our judgment on independent assessments performed by doctors. Should Christie run for president, he will submit himself to an examination, and when the results are known, they ought to be debated.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Is Hillary Clinton too prone to blood clots to be president? No. But the question will be asked and ought to be asked. Health matters. Endurance, as a quality of health, matters more than other qualities, like the propensity for certain types of cancer. Christie has proven by his actions as governor that he can endure a punishing schedule. Being president is tougher than being governor. It is stressful. Being overweight in high-stress jobs is not pleasant, it taxes the body, and it increases the likelihood that he'll have a heart attack. (He's not a ticking time bomb; the actual chances of any one person who is fat and in a stressful job having a heart attack are not insignificant but not necessarily in the realm of "likely" either.)
It is not entirely instructive to look to past presidents who were overweight; Teddy Roosevelt's body type and lifestyle are not comparable to Christie's. The eras are too different. But it might be helpful to realize that as president, Christie would have medical care second to none. He'd have a doctor with him at all times. His diet would be monitored rigorously. The chances that he'd stick to an exercise plan and a medication regimen designed to mitigate the effects of his obesity are high. And that would reduce the likelihood of any sudden problems.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Marc Ambinder is TheWeek.com's editor-at-large. He is the author, with D.B. Grady, of The Command and Deep State: Inside the Government Secrecy Industry. Marc is also a contributing editor for The Atlantic and GQ. Formerly, he served as White House correspondent for National Journal, chief political consultant for CBS News, and politics editor at The Atlantic. Marc is a 2001 graduate of Harvard. He is married to Michael Park, a corporate strategy consultant, and lives in Los Angeles.
-
The importance of discussing and dealing with debt
The Explainer Increasing numbers of people have 'problem debt' – but there are ways to tackle it
By Marc Shoffman, The Week UK Published
-
'Trump heavy on retribution, light on cash'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
Crossword: March 19, 2024
The Week's daily crossword
By The Week Staff Published
-
Why Puerto Rico is starving
The Explainer Thanks to poor policy design, congressional dithering, and a hostile White House, hundreds of thousands of the most vulnerable Puerto Ricans are about to go hungry
By Jeff Spross Published
-
China is now just another autocracy
The Explainer On the long-lasting consequences of Xi Jinping's power grab
By Noah Millman Published
-
Is America the main obstacle to peace in Korea?
The Explainer There's only one way Korea would unify — and the United States won't stand for it
By Noah Millman Published
-
Why on Earth does the Olympics still refer to hundreds of athletes as 'ladies'?
The Explainer Stop it. Just stop.
By Jeva Lange Last updated
-
Berlin's wall and ours
The Explainer What that signifier of the Cold War indicates about our unsettled historical moment
By Noah Millman Published
-
The catastrophe in Yemen
The Explainer A Saudi Arabian blockade has left millions of civilians starving, and without fuel or clean water. What is this conflict about?
By The Week Staff Published
-
China's strongman
The Explainer Xi Jinping is China's most powerful leader in decades. What are his plans for the country — and the world?
By The Week Staff Published
-
How to ride out the apocalypse in a big city
The Explainer So you live in a city and don't want to die a fiery death ...
By Eugene K. Chow Published