Michelle Obama unveiled the “Let’s Move” initiative today, putting her — and her husband’s — political muscle and capacity to raise public awareness behind the goal of eliminating childhood obesity within a generation.
The first lady’s keen interest springs from personal concern as well as concern for the public welfare. She’s Mom-In-Chief, remember, and she took to heart the family pediatrician’s caution to keep a closer eye on first daughters Sasha and Malia’s body mass index. (Body mass index determines if a person’s weight is normal based on his or her height.)
The president (shown above in an official White House photo by Samantha Appleton) signed a memorandum establishing a new task force to help solve the problem.
The Associated Press reported late last month that “Mrs. Obama said parents often recognize that kids in general don’t eat right and aren’t exercising enough, but ‘we always think that only happens to someone else’s kids, and I was in that position.’”
She said she found herself in unfamiliar territory as many parents do when it comes to helping their children maintain a healthy weight:
Even though I wasn’t exactly sure at that time what I was supposed to do with this information about my children’s BMI, I knew that I had to do something. I had to lead our family to a different way.
Mrs. Obama took small steps that made a difference for her girls, including cutting out TV on weekdays, switching to low-fat milk, and adding more veggies to the dinner table. (A new study just found that it might be junk food commercials, not just watching TV in general, that is to blame for making kids fat.)
Government safety officials Tuesday announced 
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