Michelle Obama Cranks Up Battle Against Childhood Obesity

First Lady Michelle Obama -- a veteran of Mayor Richard Daley's Chicago City Hall -- asked the nation's mayors to help battle childhood obesity, her chief domestic priority as the Obama administration started its second year on Wednesday.

Mrs. Obama marked the first year anniversary with three public events. She spent about 45 minutes greeting visitors on a White House tour, surprising sightseers who did not expect to end up in a receiving line with the First Lady and Bo, the Obama family dog. She also addressed the mayors and appeared at the White House launch of a boys mentoring program, modeled after the one for girls she started last year.

The speech at the winter meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors at a downtown Washington hotel was part of a run-up to a formal unveiling of Mrs. Obama's anti-obesity agenda next month.

Mrs. Obama told the mayors she knew about their struggles, having worked for Daley in City Hall. Daley was seated at the dais during Mrs. Obama's speech as was senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, who hired Mrs. Obama to work for her in City Hall in 1991.

"I wanted to talk with you today about a problem that's of great concern to me, one that I know many of you are seeing and hearing about every day in your communities...and that is the epidemic of childhood obesity in America today," Mrs. Obama told the mayors.

"Over the past year, I've been thinking, reading and speaking a lot about this issue, but the statistics never fail to take my breath away. Right now, nearly one third of children in America are overweight or obese -- one in three. And one third of all children today will eventually suffer from diabetes -- in the African-American and Latino communities, it goes up to almost half," she said.

Mrs. Obama, who marked her first year in the White House with an ultra-cautious schedule, will in year two become the Obama administration's lead spokeswoman on childhood obesity. Last week, she told a group of seven print reporters she would even be willing to testify before Congress, if necessary.
The contours of the program have already taken shape: installing healthy eating incentives in the national school lunch program, up for renewal before Congress this year; partnerships with private, non-profit and public groups, and use of her substantial bully pulpit.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors has already been engaged in the childhood obesity issue and Mrs. Obama in her speech cited some "best practices," including kids getting pedometers in Arlington, Texas, and a citywide diet challenge in Oklahoma City.

"It makes sense that this organization, composed of mayors across the political spectrum, would take the lead on this issue. Because like much of what you do each day, this isn't a partisan issue. This has nothing to do with whether you're a Democrat or a Republican, liberal or conservative. It's about the kind of future we want for our kids. And it's about whether we're willing to use both our policies and our bully pulpits to build that future," Mrs. Obama said.

The First Lady's anti-obesity agenda has been in the works for a year, said Jocelyn Frye, her top domestic policy adviser and a Harvard Law School classmate.

Frye said the topic came up shortly after the Jan. 20, 2009 inauguration, in connection with planning for what would become one of Mrs. Obama's signature projects, her White House garden on the South Lawn.

"We were talking about the garden. This was an issue that was on our radar screen. You know, we did not just want to do the garden just to have a garden. I think it was really a vehicle to talk about healthy eating and focusing on childrens' health, and in the long term, one of the issues she wanted to address was childhood obesity, hopefully in a way that engaged a lot of people," Frye said.

Last November, Mrs. Obama met with the Obama administration's top domestic policy advisers -- Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the former Chicago School Board chief who Mrs. Obama has known for years; Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack -- to discuss her plans and intended collaborations.

Shortly after the mayor's event, Mrs. Obama was back at the White House for the mentoring program, pegged to National Mentoring Month. Mrs. Obama and top White House female staffers have taken a group of high school girls from the area under their wing; Wednesday, male White House staffers got in the act with male mentees.

Said Mrs. Obama, "mentors have played an incredibly important role in my life and in the president's life. That's why last November, the women, we started a leadership and mentoring program here at the White House for some of the most promising students in Washington, D.C. And that's why today we're so happy to welcome a new group of mentors and mentees here with us today."