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WSJ asks: ‘Could Sen. Obama’s skinniness be a liability?’

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It’s easy to rail against the political media’s fascination with trivia, but the frustration often misses the mark. Some reporting on human-interest stories relating to presidential candidates is normal; news outlets aren’t going to be all-substance, all-the-time. Adding some trivia to the mix can help make coverage of the campaign, for lack of a better word, “lively.”

The problem is when the media treats trivia as if it were serious. I don’t mind frivolous reporting, so much as I mind when news outlets pretend it isn’t frivolous reporting.

The media covered John Edwards’ haircuts as if they were important. Reporters scrutinized Hillary Clinton’s pantsuits and cleavage as if they were legitimate subjects of journalistic inquiry. Questions about lapel pins have actually managed to make their way, not only into the media’s coverage of the campaign, but into nationally televised debates.

With this in mind, I noticed that the Wall Street Journal ran a 1,400-word article today, under the headline, “Too Fit to Be President? Facing an Overweight Electorate, Barack Obama Might Find Low Body Fat a Drawback.” It’s not just a fluff story about a slender candidate; it’s a lengthy news article about voters’ possible discomfort with a slender president.

Speaking to donors at a San Diego fund-raiser last month, Barack Obama reassured the crowd that he wouldn’t give in to Republican tactics to throw his candidacy off track. “Listen, I’m skinny but I’m tough,” Sen. Obama said.

But in a nation in which 66% of the voting-age population is overweight and 32% is obese, could Sen. Obama’s skinniness be a liability? Despite his visits to waffle houses, ice-cream parlors and greasy-spoon diners around the country, his slim physique just might have some Americans wondering whether he is truly like them. […]

“He’s too new … and he needs to put some meat on his bones,” says Diana Koenig, 42, a housewife in Corpus Christi, Texas, who says she voted for Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary.

“I won’t vote for any beanpole guy,” another Clinton supporter wrote last week on a Yahoo politics message board.

Well, sure, I’d like universal healthcare, a strong economy, a smarter foreign policy, a cleaner environment, and a more just federal judiciary, but what I’m really looking for in a leader is excess body fat. Screw the country’s future, let’s talk BMI numbers.

While most voters don’t base their decision on physical appearance alone, a candidate’s height, weight and overall look can play a big role in what Americans perceive as “presidential,” says Thomas “Mack” McLarty, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton. […]

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a self-described “recovering foodaholic” who shed 110 pounds from his 5-foot-11 frame in two years and made fitness and nutrition central to his White House run, says voters “probably want someone who takes care of his health … as an example of the kind of personal discipline necessary to do the job.”

But too much time in the gym can cause problems, as Sen. Obama learned last month after he made three stops to local Chicago gyms in one day, for a total of 188 minutes…. In a memo to reporters explaining the ad, McCain campaign manager Rick Davis wrote, “Only celebrities like Barack Obama go to the gym three times a day.” […]

“It says: ‘He’s just like one of us,”‘ says Arthur English, a political-science professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock who used to see Mr. Clinton stop in for fries and a Big Mac after his three-mile jog.

It’s not just a 1,400-word article about Obama’s weight; it’s a 1,400-word article that suggests Obama’s weight really is important.

At one point, the WSJ noted, “The Obama campaign declined to comment for this article.”

Ya don’t say.

Comments

  • Eeyore

    says:

    I’m old enough to remember how skinny JFK inspired us all. At the time, it was fashionable to play touch football, take 50 mile hikes, be “vigorous”, and aspire to physical fitness. Maybe a skinny, athletic president could inspire a nation plagued by obesity to tackle some associated health problems.

    And I’d rather have a skinny beanpole as my president than Grumpy Old Grampaw playing tiddlywinks and muttering about see-leb-ra-tees.

  • zoe from pittsburgh

    says:

    Talk about your manufactured fluff. If people don’t want to vote for Obama because he’s healthy and skinny is it fair to ask what if people don’t want to vote for McCain because he’s old and ugly and reminds them of Mr. Burns?

    Oh, no, wait, that would be ugly and unfair.

  • John R

    says:

    Next In the WSJ
    A detailed synopis of thes morning’s Regis and Kelly show followed by some new recipies for guacamole

  • Andrew

    says:

    I sent this in an e-mail to the reporter at the WSJ:

    Let me understand this. For years, we have heard about how in shape George Bush is, how he bikes, runs, clears brush, etc. He even tried to tell the public that if he had time to work out, we should be able to find the time, also.

    Now, Barack Obama is a man in shape, and he is some kind of elitist.

    This is insanity. I know you guys love you some McCain, but this is some seriously stupid stuff.

    Also, Steve M. pointed out that the quotes she attributes to a message board were in fact a message thread she started. He also quoted some funny folks she did not quote because they called bullshit for what it is.

  • The Caped Composer

    says:

    It’s yet another instance of damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t. Last year, when everyone was speculating about whether Al Gore would jump into the race, the pundits were going wild analyzing his body weight, trying to assess whether he was “too fat to be a candidate,” so to speak. Now we’ve got a nominee who is incredibly physically fit, and all of a sudden he is deemed “too skinny to be a candidate?” In the words of the immortal Gilda Radner, “It’s always something!”

    (I should also point out the fact that George W. Bush is a skinny guy, and nobody batted an eye about it in 2000 or 2004. I know– IOKIYAR).

  • Ohioan

    says:

    If you’re an editor, apparently you can run any headline as long as there’s (1) a question mark at the end, and (2) interviews with random people on the street.

    eg:

    “Is the WSJ a propoganda arm of the Republican party?”
    “Sure”, said Joe Smith, 42 who was eating in a diner in Macedonia, Ohio. “The WSJ sucks ass” the longtime Democrat added.

    See? I could be an editor of a major newspaper too.

  • lenko

    says:

    Two thirds of us are obese???? If that trend continues, in another twenty years we’ll be ripe for invasion by anyone…. we’ll all be too fat to move.

    I thought I was joking, but it occurs to me that the scenario’s happened before. When a nation gets soft, especially an arrogant one like the U.S., there’s a tipping point at which that nation is a pushover for the next nation they try to treat like shit.

    What we need is a skinny population.

  • The Answer is Orange

    says:

    Yeah. He’s too … skinny. That’s why I won’t vote for him.

    Wow. That’ll be really ironic when McCain’s economic policies result in massive food shortages.

    I plan to survive on low-info voters.

  • Davis X. Machina

    says:

    If, by magic, the staff, alumni, and students of all the MFA creative writing programs of America, and all the staff, alumni, and students of all the J-schools in America, were to be swapped for each other, either we’d not notice the difference, or notice an improvement in political coverage.

    And American literature would just about sputter and die.

    On the tombstone of the Republic will be the epitaph ‘Killed By A Story Arc’

  • Steve

    says:

    …a diner in Macedonia, Ohio.

    Is there really a diner in Macedonia? I remember the deli on 82, near Freeway Drive—but it’s been ages since I’ve been to Macedonia….

  • BuzzMon

    says:

    Hollywood to the rescue!
    Where’s Eddie Murphy’s fat suit team? Call makeup! We need instructors to teach him how to walk, sit, get up (wheezing), and adjust his pants when made up like a fat American.
    Oh, wait, never mind. It’s Bush that likes to play dress-up.
    Do you think Peggy Noonan would swoon over Obama in a flightsuit?

  • Homer

    says:

    Wow. I was just reading the exact same thing in my wife’s Us Weekly about Angelina Jolie – “Is Angie too skinny?”

    Thanks WSJ, I now have a new source for utterly vapid “news” (I use the word loosely).

    You’ll probably have to start adding in pictures of Jessica Alba in her bikini though before I start reading regularly…..

  • Bones

    says:

    sounds like sour grapes, doesn’t it?

    wait until October. Obama will have the stamina
    for 4 weeks of back to back road trips, and rallies.

    McCain? I hear he’ll probably be taking a lot of naps.

    One subliminal tack, the Obama campaign ought to go for,
    is repeated clips of Obama running down the steps
    from his airplane. The contrast, to that of Grandpa McCain
    hobbling down the steps, one by one, couldn’t be more plain.

  • TheSpiceMustFlow

    says:

    Have we really come to this point? This is fucking absurd. Fat-assed Americans in the Midwest should be aspiring to be as skinny as Obama, not making a voting decision based on their own envy and guilt over someone else’s physical condition. What a nation of whining pansies we have become. Get to the gym, fatties.

  • beep52

    says:

    What this country needs needs is a president who’ll slap a gun rack on the back of the presidential limo and hang those plastic bull testicles off of Air Force One — and then go around asking foreign dignitaries if they’ve seen his balls. Ha, ha, ha…

  • jen

    says:

    As Wayne #5 pointed out, WSJ is now owned by Murdock. I’m just surprised the article didn’t feature the usual female body parts.

  • st john

    says:

    I find this “news report” utterly unbelievable! As another entry states: We have a president now who prides himself in his fitness and the amount of time he devotes to exercise. What could be more hypocritical than this story that seems to debunk everything that Bush promotes. How do these people get away with this? I’d love to see Obama show up in a fat suit for one of the “debates” to show his commitment to “leading the American people” to new levels of fitness and discipline. Maybe he could encourage the military to fatten up and invest more in high carb food…wait, don’t they have McDs and Burger King in the Green Zone? That is probably who is pushing this story. Check WSJ’s advertisers for “fast food” sponsors.

    nuff said,
    I am committed to Oneness through Justice and Transformation
    peace,
    st john

  • Winkandanod

    says:

    If Obama inspires millions of overweight Americans to get fit and healthy, it will cost the diet, pharmaceutical, and health care industries billions of dollars.

    That’s not change we can afford.

  • scott_m

    says:


    “I won’t vote for any beanpole guy,” another Clinton supporter wrote last week on a Yahoo politics message board.

    The Clinton supporter has a point. U.S. has elected presidents in the past with the lean-and-hungry look, like Lincoln and Washington, and we all agree now how they stunk up the joint. We need a Cleveland or a Taft in these times.

    “If he’s well fed, we’re well led.”

  • Scott F

    says:

    Forget high school, we are now entering junior high territory. I can’t wait for the story about his ears and what kind of clothes he wears. Should be right around Septemberish.

  • stuart

    says:

    1956, I am a 20 y.o. white guy hanging out w/ friends in a all white n.w. city of 30,000. Two black guys, about our age, come into town and one “friend” says “lets run them out of town.” I leave w/o out speaking and I am ashamed for I realize that my silence is implicit acceptance. The nyt Board, need not be ashamed but others who are silent about the racism in the McCain ad should be.

  • space

    says:

    “I won’t vote for any beanpole guy,” another Clinton supporter wrote last week on a Yahoo politics message board.

    So now we know that Bill Clinton trolls Yahoo message boards.

  • toowearyforoutrage

    says:

    Wall Street Jackass. (and not the good kind)

    A role model for the “obesity epidemic” is now BAD?
    Crisco on the cross, W.. T.. F…?

    Another “damned if ya do” jab from the liberal media.

  • Tom Cleaver

    says:

    It is truly amazing what a bunch of fatties Americans have become. I recently ran across a photo I took in 1978 at an air show here in Southern California. The crowd was amazing to look at, since 90% were thin. A photo I took at the 2008 edition of the same air show at the same location, shows a lot of fat people who look really bad in their drooping-off-their-fat-asses cargo shorts.

  • TheSpiceMustFlow

    says:

    Not sure if someone already pointed this out, but she started the Yahoo thread and solicited people who would actually claim this ridiculous basis for voting. She also ignored those in the thread who declared it an idiotic topic.

    She posted her gmail address, which I used to express my disgust – I suggest you do as well (in a civil way, of course).

    amy.chozick@gmail.com

  • Louie

    says:

    How about a follow up article for the WSJ? “Could Sen. McCain’s graduating third from the bottom of his class be a liability?” Which of these people would you patronize if you knew they were at the bottom of their class …. surgeon, dentist, hair dresser, chef, mechanic, contractor, financial planner, tax preparer? Hmmm…

  • Insane Fake Professor

    says:

    Senator Slats’ absurdly low weight raises questions about his dependability. Americans understandably do not trust people who don’t enjoy barbecued ribs and chocolate doughnuts with sprinkles.

    John McCain knows this. The Associated Press knows this. Women, who have a higher body fat content than men, certainly know this. Only jeering, patronizing males don’t get this — which is why John McCain will mop the floor with Senator Stick-Shaped in November. I might also mention that excessive thinness is often a symptom of the drug abuse that is so common among African Americans.

  • N.Wells

    says:

    Next up: “Obama: too overly-endowed to be president?”

    Like Education majors, Journalism majors include some of the best students on any campus, but also way too many of the worst. You only have to look at US college newspapers to realize the awfulness of the average. I used to attribute the surprising amount of good journalism in the profession to hard on-the-job training by meticulous and demanding editors. However, for the last two and half decades or more journalism seems to have been undergoing a national reversion to undergraduate levels of accomplishment. It’s pathetic.

  • Stella

    says:

    If there is friendly intelligent life on another planet, and they have the answers to some of our most vexing questions and issues, but they are monitoring for the safest time to make themselves known – what if one of the criteria is that we choose intelligent life on this planet? What must they think of us.

    Look at the humans. The crucify their Messiah (and I’m talking about Christ here, so there is no mistake). The elect imbeciles. They argue over whether fat is an important issue to consider when choosing the man to hold the most powerful job in the world. They pay more attention to whether or not starletts are wearing underwear than whether their children are properly fed and educated.

    It’s no wonder we haven’t been contacted. There is so little evidence of intelligent life on this planet. It’s no wonder that Jesus is taking his own sweet time about coming back. Who’d want us?

    To quote the Bard: “Lord, what fools these mortals be.”

  • Mister Go

    says:

    As Digby says, the fact that Bush and Condi are obsessive about working out just means they are he-men Republicans. The fact that Obama works out must be twisted around to make him some kind of sissy. That’s the narrative after all. And narratives are more important than news, aren’t they?

  • libra

    says:

    Tom Cleaver,@33,

    My friends in Poland say that “whale watching” has a different meaning in US; you no longer need to sail out to high seas, because every city street is full of them. That, from a country where, when you gain weight, people say “you have improved”. Plump is considered pretty there, but fat is gross.

    Me, at 5’2″ and 100lbs, I have no objection to his being skinny (I used to be called “Auschwitz kid” back when I was little) but that extra foot in height…It does concern me.

  • joey

    says:

    I hate it when you post two stupid comments from two obviously stupid (no matter who they would support) people and then describe them as Hillary supporters….What’s wrong. couldn’t you come up with a child molester “skinny” commenter who also claims to be a ‘Hillary supporter’??

    The editors prove once again that there is nothing to vile or absurd they can’t use to knock Obama. What a joke…when you consider his opponent is 100% disabled, with untreated deep psychological scars from being tortured who won’t even allow his medical check up to be published or copied…with a long history of skin cancers, temper tantrums and threatening behavior….Oh I forgot…that is his qualification to be president….surviving torture.

    It’s difficult to see how our establishment media can remain so petty and mundane to post an article one couldn’t even get published in the National Enquirer. Especially when such huge news stories are being ignored like ABC knowing who perpetrated the anthrax attacks but refuse to give up their names.

    Laws were never intended to enslave us and laws allowing this type of media dominance are detrimental to our democracy….Weapons manufacturers should never be able to own and operate a national news organization. Nor should news organizations be in the hands of too few people where corporate agendas dominate news and opinion. A National propaganda lying machine whose only opposition comes from a free internet or there would be no access to truth at all.

  • joey

    says:

    btw…It’s meant to be ridiculously controversial to get attention away from the issues. It’s a distraction from substance. The media always responds with personality trivial attacks on the democratic nominee’s mannerisms and appearance…(used to be ,”just look how he holds his cigarette, so effeminate). Skinny has absolutely nothing to do with anything but it will keep us distracted for days.

    On issues really really important to the media like who’s is biggest and can pee the farthest, Obama is the clear winner and McCain the loser. That’s why the media won’t touch it. They don’t want McCain to be any more embarrassed than he already makes himself.

    McCain: Wrong On Everything…And Lying About It.

  • Lola Rogers

    says:

    I think that many idiotic comments and letters to the editor from alleged Hillary Clinton supporters, “former liberals”, etc. who swear they could never vote for Obama are in fact written by imposters.

  • Aiken Blue

    says:

    I do not even understand why his skinniness is a question. At this moment when obesity is a big problem, to have a leader who keeps so fit would be great. It would hopefully inspire people to work out more and get into shape. Obama is fit, physically and mentally, and makes a great example. Please support Obama, visit WHYOBAMA08.ORG!

  • harriett

    says:

    At least the article points out that Americans are FAT! Obama stands for CHANGE, which hopefully includes inspiring others to be ‘lean and mean’…sigh, my kinda man!!!

  • MsJoanne

    says:

    This is but another WSJ attempt to keep the Clinton v. Obama thing going. They apparently need that tension to sell their rags now for I no longer look to the WSJ for business news. The way they skew facts is the last thing I need to make any sound business decisions. How one Aussie fucks up American business (and business news) for good. One less thing that people anywhere else look to America for. Priceless.

    And this article reaches beyond inanity into insanity. Has the once roundly respected business newspaper really sunk to this level?

    Anyone know what their subscription numbers are these days – and compared to what they were before Murdoch bought it?

    Unreal. Just unreal.

  • Taz

    says:

    Not only is it trivial, it’s also absurdly wrong. Skinny is unpopular? Tell that to Hollywood. Americans may be obese, but they want desperately to be thin.

  • oh really

    says:

    If I’d known Obama was that skinny, I’d have become a Republican a long time ago. What would I do without the WSJ?

    And what would have happened if Clinton had gotten the nomination? Would the WSJ be telling us that her thighs aren’t presidential? Would we actually have to decide if her bust is too big or, heaven forbid, too small? And could we stand for a president who wears (or doesn’t wear) nail polish? Pierced ears or not? Where would it end?

    Obviously, we can never have a female president. There would be too many unanswerable questions.

  • Vicki

    says:

    Good God! Who wants a president who is skinny, athletic and healthy? Even worse, he is intelligent, articulate, has class and the evil man even has loads and loads of chrisma, enough to even make Bill Clinton look repulsive. You just can’t vote for a guy like that. After all, sounds like he might actually be capable of leading the nation. Nobody wants that. Give us another 8 years of Bush’s incompetence, stupidity, obnoxiousness, laziness, dishonesty, lying, murdering. Yes, we can drink a beer with the stumble bum.

  • Adam Franklin

    says:

    If McCain wins it will be because the majority of this country has been dumbed down by a culture that does not value the ability to be introspective and curious about the world around it. There are way too many idiots in this country that will take this as a serious issue and vote against their own interests on that basis. THere is a reason why America is losing its competitiveness abroad and is becoming less a leader in the realm of ideas and more a bully that gets its way through sheer economic and military strength.

  • Kim

    says:

    Adam:

    “If McCain wins it will be because the majority of this country has been dumbed down by a culture that does not value the ability to be introspective and curious about the world around it. There are way too many idiots in this country that will take this as a serious issue and vote against their own interests on that basis. THere is a reason why America is losing its competitiveness abroad and is becoming less a leader in the realm of ideas and more a bully that gets its way through sheer economic and military strength.”

    Adam, your comment is a silly assumption of McCain’s. Why is it so difficult for you to understand that there are intelligent people on both sides of the fence who wants best for the country… but we have different views as how to get there?

    We’re losing competitiveness abroad b/c we baby our children too much and have parents yelling at the school system when their children don’t do well. Easy come, easy go… you have to work hard in society for growth. Not easy rides… do not strengthen the U.S.

    Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. W/the many incompetent people in all public positions and the press. I believe in less government… amognst many things.

    Accountability… that’s what we lack in this country. It’s the “me, me, me” generation…