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White House Annoyed by School Lunch Campaign

by Brett Singer (Subscribe to Brett Singer's posts)
Aug 11th 2009 12:54PM

242Comments

Filed under: Celeb Kids, In The News, Mealtime, Nutrition: Big Kids, Nutrition: Tweens

Did this public service announcement cross the line? Credit: Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine

When it comes to the First Daughters, everything is off-limits. Even if it's for a good cause.

White House officials are annoyed by an ad campaign that promotes healthier school lunches because it specifically mentions Sasha and Malia Obama.

Officials are taking issue with a particular poster created by the Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine (PCRM) because of the following tag line: "President Obama's daughters get healthy school lunches. Why don't I?"

In an interview with The Washington Post, President Neal Barnard said that he was asked to take the posters down but declined to do so. Barnard said that the request did not come from the First Family directly; he believes it came from the President's "handlers." These "handlers" did not directly threaten legal action, but Barnard felt that was implied if he did not remove the posters.

After consulting with First Amendment attorney Jonathan Emord, Barnard and his lawyer agree that PCRM has every right to reference what the First Daughters have for lunch. Emord said that if the President's staffers tried to have the posters removed, he believes "the president... would never stand for it... It would basically amount to censorship."
Still, why mention Sasha and Malia at all?

"The direct comparison is: You have affluent children with access to healthy foods, and disadvantaged children have the same rights to the same kinds of healthy meals as affluent kids," Barnard said. "And we are fighting for that fairness, so we felt that making that statement as directly as we could was important."

The cause is clearly a good one. Healthy eating is a habit that should be learned at a young age. And the campaign will certainly bring more attention to the issue of healthy school lunches, even if it's not the sort of attention that Barnard claims he wanted.

"If this story comes out as Obama versus us, I don't want that story," he said, although Barnard was the one who contacted The Washington Post, according to the article.

What does the PCRM think kids should be having for lunch? Vegan and vegetarian food. The first step, of course, is for schools to offer vegetarian food as an option. The next step is getting children to eat it.

That might be an even bigger challenge.

Are you happy with the lunches your children are served at school?

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Malia and Sasha Obama
Just days after the inauguration, the makers of Beanie Babies introduced "Sweet Sasha" and "Marvelous Malia." Now they're valued at over $3,000 for the pair.
Getty Images

Sasha and Malia Obama

    Nine months after Barack Obama was elected President, a predicted Obama baby boom hasn't come to pass.

    Getty Images

    Malia and Sasha in Moscow -- wearing J. Crew. Mrs. Obama's dress is by Narciso Rodriguez, who has long be a favorite of the First Lady; her jacket is Michael Kors.

    AFP/Getty Images

    President Obama and daughter Malia look on as Sasha lights a candle at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

    Pete Souza/Flickr

    The First Family (shown here arriving in Chicago in February) are jetting off to France. This will be Sasha and Malia's first official trip abroad since moving into the White House.

    Getty Images

    President Obama told "Newsweek" that dating "will be an issue" for his girls. "I have men with guns surrounding them at all times, which I'm perfectly happy with, but they may feel differently about it."

    Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

    Malia Obama walks First Dog Bo on the White House Grounds in April of 2009.

    Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images

    Just days after the inauguration, the makers of Beanie Babies introduced "Sweet Sasha" and "Marvelous Malia." Now they're valued at over $3,000 for the pair.

    Getty Images

    A boy sneaks a photo of Sasha and Malia as they watch their mom speak to 6th and 7th grade school children from around Washington, DC, in February 2008.

    Getty Images

    Sasha Obama runs down the colonnade as she returns to the White House after a February 2009 weekend visit to Chicago.

    Jonathan Ernst, Reuters

    President Obama took a night off from running the nation to hang out with the family and watch the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform at the Kennedy Center.

    Getty Images

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