Back from Break, Lawmakers Will Also Face Bills on Clean Energy, Consumer Protection and the Financial Industry
Who Would Obama Most Want to Have Dinner With?
It was a question from a student today at the school where the President was giving a speech about education. Who would you most like to dine with Mr. President, if you could only chose one person. His answer: Mahatma...
Obama's cool: 'Carve out time to think'
by Mark Silva
As a "weekend warrior,'' the basketball-playing, golf-loving President Barack Obama likes to carve out time for his own fitness. As president, Obama likes to carve out time to think.
Speaking of health, the first couple speaks at some length about each of their own fitness regimes in interviews appearing in coming issues of Men's Health and Women's Health magazines.
As a self-described "weekend warrior on the basketball court,'' the president speaks of the importance of personal fitness. As a one-time community organizer, he says, he came to appreciate the need for health insurance.
On his own method of staying cool under stress, the president tells the magazine: "I ask [aides) to design my schedule in a way that focuses not just on what's coming at us, but on being active instead of reactive... [I] carve out time to think, which is probably the most important time for somebody who's trying to shift an organization, or in this case, the country."
In the October issues, on newsstands Sept. 15, the president and First Lady Michelle Obama speak about some priorities. This will be the president's second turn on the cover of Men's Health, which claims a readership of 12 milliontake that, Glenn Beck. The president made his first showing there in November 2008.
Here's the new one: Mens Health cover.tif
On "the war on obesity,'' the president says: "Well, first of all, I don't think it's a war.... My mother struggled with weight--and I know that some of it was just genetic. But part of it was she grew up in a generation where, unfortunately, women weren't always encouraged to be athletically active. She didn't get into those early habits that my daughters are already in, because they play soccer and are consistently active. So it's an example of how socialization can make a difference, particularly with our kids."
Asked about "sin taxes'' on soda and other sugar-laden products, the president tells Men's Health: "I actually think it's an idea that we should be exploring. There's no doubt that our kids drink way too much soda. And every study that's been done about obesity shows that there is as high a correlation between increased soda consumption and obesity as just about anything else. Obviously it's not the only factor, but it is a major factor....
"Obviously there is resistance on Capitol Hill to those kinds of sin taxes,'' Obama notes. "Legislators from certain states that produce sugar or corn syrup are sensitive to anything that might reduce demand for those products. And look, people's attitude is that they don't necessarily want Big Brother telling them what to eat or drink, and I understand that. It is true, though, that if you wanted to make a big impact on people's health in this country, reducing things like soda consumption would be helpful."
In Women's Health, the first lady speaks of health, fitness and nutrition and the roles each play in her family's life. The magazine also claims a sculpted scoop here: The exercise routine that the first lady uses, with the advice and consent of personal trainer Cornell McClellan, for those "famously well-toned arms.'' (The magazine's words.)
"Even when I was a community organizer-- I was paid $13,000 a year--I benefited from the fact that the guy who hired me insisted that I get health care as part of the package,'' President Obama tells Men's Health. "And, you know, at the age of 24, 25, you think you're immortal. So I was thinking to myself, boy, I could use that money to pay the rent. But he was very firm about everybody having health care, and I think that he did me a great service during that time.
"Personal responsibility is going to have to be a component of it,'' the president says. "But I think it's very important, before we start talking about personal responsibility, just to be clear about the facts.
"We spend more on health care [each year] per person than any other nation on earth,'' Obama tells the magazine. "It also turns out, contrary to people's assumptions, that we are actually a little healthier than Europeans and some of our other counterparts, primarily because our smoking rates are much lower. Now, if the current obesity trends continue, that could reverse itself. But not only do we smoke less, but we have a younger population
"It's important for us to recognize that even if Americans were a lot healthier than they are now--had reduced our obesity rates below where they are now--we still would have probably one of the most inefficient health care systems out there. So how we change our delivery systems, how we make sure that people have coverage so that they're not going to the hospital for very expensive emergency-room care--those are all issues that have to be dealt with as well.
"Look, obviously if you have the best care in America, you have the best care in the world,'' the president tells the magazine. "We have great doctors here, we have great hospitals. The technology that has been developed--oftentimes through free-market initiatives--can greatly enhance people's quality of life. And a lot of your readers are, if they're like me, weekend warriors on the basketball court. They're looking at knee replacements and hip replacements so they can stay active. Those things do cost money.
"I think one of the changes that has happened-- even since I was a kid--when I looked at my grandfather, at 55 he already looked old," the president continues. "These days, at 55, people are in the prime of life. It's a sign that if you have good health care, if you have the capacity to exercise, if you're able to take care of yourself-- and a lot of that ends up being tied to economics--then people can be healthier than ever. But unfortunately, a lot of people don't have those same options. And that's part of the push behind health care reform--how can we make sure that all of us have the options of living healthier lives, which in turn will save us all money in the long term?"
Asked about "sin taxes'' on soda and other sugar-laden products, the president tells Men's Health: "I actually think it's an idea that we should be exploring. There's no doubt that our kids drink way too much soda. And every study that's been done about obesity shows that there is as high a correlation between increased soda consumption and obesity as just about anything else. Obviously it's not the only factor, but it is a major factor....
"Obviously there is resistance on Capitol Hill to those kinds of sin taxes,'' Obama notes. "Legislators from certain states that produce sugar or corn syrup are sensitive to anything that might reduce demand for those products. And look, people's attitude is that they don't necessarily want Big Brother telling them what to eat or drink, and I understand that. It is true, though, that if you wanted to make a big impact on people's health in this country, reducing things like soda consumption would be helpful."
The first lady tells Women's Health about her own childhoold shaped her approach to nutrition.
"We couldn't afford to go out to dinner, so [it] was a rare treat. We would have a theater class on Saturdays, and [afterward] if Dad turned left we were going to McDonald's, and if he turned right we were going home, and we'd always go, "Go left, Dad! Go left!" The few times he went left, it was like Christmas! And we got pizza on report card day. That was a reward, pizza. Dessert was given sparingly.
"We would get ice cream, three little pints, and we would eat out of those for days. You'd get little scoops: Here, you get a little chocolate, you get a little butter pecan, and that would be it. Those values--even though they were the result of economic circumstances--were really good, and they created some pretty healthy boundaries about food."
As an adult, she allows:
"I do love a good burger and fries. French fries are my favorite food in the whole world. If I could, I'd eat them at every meal--but I can't. My whole thing is moderation. If I make good, healthy choices most of the time, then having what I love every once in a while won't hurt. I have to exercise and eat in a balanced way. If I start ignoring both, I will put on weight. I am fortunate in that I'm five-eleven, so it takes a while for the weight to be seen, but it'll come! It's just distributed more. If I didn't exercise and eat right I would be heavier, and I have been."
On her own drive and discipline, the first lady says:
"I wanted to be smart. I wanted to be the person who had the right answer. I lived in a community where being smart wasn't necessarily the cool thing to be."
"My mother said, 'That's your choice. Don't do it for me, do it for yourself.' I heard that in my head every single day: 'I'm doing this for me.' I ran into people who doubted me, who didn't think I could do certain things. I viewed that as a challenge, and that never stopped me. That always made me push harder. Barack and I want to instill that same work ethic and focus in our daughters so they, too, can achieve anything they want to."
For the Obama girls, she says, that means a rule around the White House these days: "During the school year, no TV, no computers during the school week. Only on weekends."
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