“None of us wants this future for our kids,’’ she said at the White House. “We have to act.’’
Her campaign, called “Let’s Move,’’ has four parts: helping parents make better food choices, serving healthier food in school vending machines and lunch lines, making healthier food more available and affordable, and encouraging children to exercise more.
The campaign, which Obama said she hopes will be seen as her legacy, is aimed at solving the childhood obesity problem in a generation, so that children born today can reach adulthood at a healthy weight.
“This isn’t like a disease where we’re still waiting for the cure to be discovered. We know the cure for this,’’ she said at the unveiling, which was moved to the State Dining Room as the second blizzard in less than a week bore down on the city.
In an interview with ABC News, Obama acknowledged her love of burgers and fries and ice cream and cake. But she said she wants the nation’s children to have better nutrition and more exercise.
“My kids have to get up and move. They can’t sit in front of the TV,’’ she said of Malia, 11, and Sasha, 8.
“I have them involved in sports . . . to compete and to win and to run and to sweat. They have to understand.’’
GOP senator to lift block on Obama nominees
WASHINGTON - Senator Richard Shelby, Republican of Alabama, will stop blocking Senate confirmation of about 70 government appointees nominated by President Obama, his office said.
Shelby had placed holds on most of Obama’s nominees, delaying the Senate from acting on them, in a dispute over federal spending involving his state.
Shelby wants an Air Force aerial refueling tanker and a new FBI explosives center to be built in Alabama. Senators frequently block appointments, but Shelby’s blanket hold was unusual.
Now that he has gotten Obama’s attention, said Jonathan Graffeo, Shelby spokesman, “Senator Shelby has decided to release his holds on all but a few nominees directly related to the Air Force tanker acquisition.’’
Obama aide mocks Palin’s use of speaking cues
