The Week

be careful not to be loading up with fatty foods all the time.” So said President Bush in a speech on physical fitness at a senior center in Orlando. Thus begins our newest national crusade against obesity, which even officials in the administration, to say nothing of outside activists, link to the fight against tobacco. What’s wrong with this? Every time Bush or someone in his retinue passes a McDonald’s, he will be open to the charge of hypocrisy. The Los Angeles Times got right on the case, pointing out that the lunch offerings on Air Force One during the flight to Florida included corned’ beef sandwiches and steak fries. There is the indignity inherent in almost all uses of the bully pulpit, which too easily becomes a pulpit for bullies. We would have expected an anti-fat initiative from a hard-blowing McCain administration, after campaign-finance reform and a national monument in every backyard. Worst is the misdirection of energy, and the misconception of function. If we wanted personal trainers in the White House, we would have elected Jane Fonda. The President of the United States should tend to war and taxes—our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor—and leave our diets to ourselves.

Southwest Airlines, possibly doing its part for the president’s fitness agenda, announced that it would require overweight passengers to purchase two seats. Fat acceptance activists—yes, we have those now, too—are calling Southwest’s policy a violation of the civil rights of the obese. But the airline is asking only that passengers pay for what they use and not disadvantage other passengers. If overweight passengers dislike the policy, let them redouble their efforts to shed the excess pounds, or just fly United.

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William F. Buckley Jr.

Grammar

be careful not to be loading up with fatty foods all the time.” So said President Bush in a speech on physical fitness at a senior center in Orlando. Thus begins our newest national crusade against obesity, which even officials in the administration, to say nothing of outside activists, link to the fight against tobacco. What’s wrong with this? Every time Bush or someone in his retinue passes a McDonald’s, he will be open to the charge of hypocrisy. The Los Angeles Times got right on the case, pointing out that the lunch offerings on Air Force One during the flight to Florida included corned’ beef sandwiches and steak fries. There is the indignity inherent in almost all uses of the bully pulpit, which too easily becomes a pulpit for bullies. We would have expected an anti-fat initiative from a hard-blowing McCain administration, after campaign-finance reform and a national monument in every backyard. Worst is the misdirection of energy, and the misconception of function. If we wanted personal trainers in the White House, we would have elected Jane Fonda. The President of the United States should tend to war and taxes—our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor—and leave our diets to ourselves.

Southwest Airlines, possibly doing its part for the president’s fitness agenda, announced that it would require overweight passengers to purchase two seats. Fat acceptance activists—yes, we have those now, too—are calling Southwest’s policy a violation of the civil rights of the obese. But the airline is asking only that passengers pay for what they use and not disadvantage other passengers. If overweight passengers dislike the policy, let them redouble their efforts to shed the excess pounds, or just fly United.