Imus Sort of Hearts Huckabee
Mike Huckabee, the former Governor of Arkansas and current radio and television host, did his best today to get Imus to become un-annoyed with him.
“When you were running against McCain, you didn’t stop running!” Imus said, referring to Huckabee’s 2008 presidential bid, which went on until McCain finally accrued the necessary number of votes to secure the Republican nomination.
Huckabee, though, was undeterred by the I-Man’s venom, and was characteristically jovial this morning. Perhaps he was still giddy from his interview with First Lady Michelle Obama that aired on Fox News’s “Huckabee” show this past Sunday. Despite their opposing political ideologies, Huckabee found Obama “warm” and “congenial.”
“There are very few policies of her husband’s I agree with, but that doesn’t mean I cannot respect him as a person and as a president, and respect her as a first lady,” said Huckabee.
He was glad she articulated a love of country during their chat, because certain statements made during the 2008 campaign—like, “For the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country”—led critics to accuse her of being unpatriotic.
The main reason for Obama’s visit with Huckabee, however, was to discuss childhood obesity, an issue close to both of their hearts.
“When I was Governor, our state was the only state that was able to reverse its rates of childhood obesity and change the trajectory, which, since 1972, looks like the downhill slope of the Olympics,” said Huckabee, who has battled the bulge himself.
Obama has made healthier eating and exercise habits the top priority on her agenda as first lady, and assured Huckabee that her work to educate parents and kids has nothing to do with government policy or intervention.
Reducing obesity starts with parents monitoring what kids eat, which is less likely to be actual food these days. “We don’t eat foods, we eat products,” said Huckabee. Food companies, he added, are merely responding to consumer demands for processed items. “The basic rule of thumb is, if it wasn’t a food 100 years ago, it isn’t a food today.”
He and Obama also encouraged parents to engage kids in physical activity that requires more than just their thumbs. But skyrocketing rates of childhood obesity are also the result of a cultural shift, the correction of which can take decades.
“It’s not something that’s going to happen in an election cycle, and that’s one reason politicians don’t touch this topic,” said Huckabee. “Politicians like to deal with issues they can resolve in their election cycle.”
More health conscious himself these days, Huckabee takes 10,000 units of Vitamin D everyday, same as the I-Man. Unlike Imus, however, Huckabee did not know the Vitamin D levels in his blood off the top of his head, an ignorance for which he was ridiculed.
“Bring your medical report next time,” Bernard told Huckabee. “And a baseball bat.”
-Julie Kanfer
