We have discussed Sarah Palin's State of the State address in 2009, where she made remarks about healthy choices:
We have alarming levels of heart disease, diabetes, childhood obesity – and all of these maladies are on the rise. Now, I won’t stand here and lecture – for very long – but health care reform on an individual basis is often just this simple: we could save a lot of money, and a lot of grief, by making smarter choices.
It starts by ending destructive habits, and beginning healthy habits in eating and exercise. In my case, it’s hard to slack when you have the ever-present example of an Iron Dogger nearby. But many of us could use a little more time in our great outdoors – and when you live in the Great Land, there’s no excuse.
Protecting good health is largely a matter of personal responsibility, but government policy can help. Our new Alaska Health Care Commission will recommend changes that affect the well-being of Alaskans far into the future.
While reviewing some older posts, I came across an interview Sarah Palin gave to Runner's World magazine just before she quit on Alaska. A little gem issued from her lips:
If the campaign had turned out differently, you would have been in Washington D.C. much of the time. Was there a part of you that was a little reluctant to leave behind the landscape of Alaska for four or eight years?
Alaska would be hard to give up because it is such a part of who I am. So much of my life revolves around the great outdoors that that would be kind of tough. But on the other hand, I think of being in D.C. and in a position to promote physical fitness and the benefits of making good decisions healthwise and being an example to others, and I know that could do some good for our country.
Sarah would promote physical fitness and the benefits of making good decisions healthwise and thought she could do some good for the country!
That's precisely Michelle Obama's approach to the same topic:
Parents and caregivers play a key role in not only making healthy choices for children and teaching children to make healthy choices for themselves. But in today’s busy world, this isn’t always easy. So Let’s Move! offers parents and caregivers the tools, support and information they need to make healthier choices while instilling healthy eating habits in children that will last a lifetime.
On the page for children, there's a passage about being active:
The average child spends more time watching TV, and less time running and playing. It’s important to find creative ways to exercise and play every day, which can be fun and beneficial to your health.
Sarah Palin later decided that doing some good for the country by promoting those "good decisions healthwise" was a bad, bad idea. Sarah abandoned her sneakers in favour of other foot attire.
"Take her anti-obesity thing that she is on. She is on this kick, right. What she is telling us is she cannot trust parents to make decisions for their own children, for their own families in what we should eat. And I know I'm going to be again criticized for bringing this up, but instead of a government thinking that they need to take over and make decisions for us according to some politician or politician's wife priorities, just leave us alone, get off our back, and allow us as individuals to exercise our own God-given rights to make our own decisions and then our country gets back on the right track."
"Where are the s'mores ingredients? This is in honor of Michelle Obama, who said the other day we should not have dessert."
"No wonder Michelle Obama is telling everybody you better breast feed your babies. I'm looking and say, 'Yeah, you better because the price of milk is so high right now'."
2 PA school speech; I'll intro kids 2 beauty of laissez-faire via serving them cookies amidst school cookie ban debate;Nanny state run amok!
9 Nov via Twitter for BlackBerry
On the one hand "Protecting good health is largely a matter of personal responsibility, but government policy can help," is OK, but on the other hand... "Nanny state run amok!" when the First Lady heads a campaign promoting good health.
The Let's Move! campaign is not government policy, it's simply a case of the president's wife doing some good for the country, exactly the same thing Sarah Palin hoped to do if she had managed to go to Washington, D.C.
How does Sarah Palin survive on a diet of sour grapes?
I had some fun with the Runner's World interview a couple of days before the quitting announcement, in a post titled "Sarah Palin sweats."
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