Michelle Obama's war on obesity

Obama's "Let's Move" campaign addresses a real problem, but should government tell parents how to raise their kids?

Michelle Obama.
(Image credit: Corbis)

First Lady Michelle Obama has found her cause: ending the "epidemic" of childhood obesity in one generation. Her "Let's Move" drive attacks the problem by promoting exercise and better nutrition. (See her promo video below) Nobody really disputes that childhood obesity is a problem — one in three kids is obese or overweight — but can the government find a solution, or is that up to parents?

Obama's picking a tough fight: Childhood obesity is an expensive, deadly epidemic, says the San Francisco Chronicle in an editorial, and many of Michelle Obama's ideas, such as banning junk food from school vending machines, have "real bite." But she faces a tough fight from a food industry "built around marketing unhealthy food," and its allies in Congress.

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