Shy Away From the Fryer And Get Battered?

Well, of course arugula is bitter! Wouldn’t you be, if the media decided to disparage you as a symbol of all things elite and effete? The right is relentlessly deriding Barack Obama as “an arrogant, arugula-eating, fancy-berry-tea-drinking celebrity,” according to ABC’s Jake Tapper.

To which Jon Stewart replied:

“That’s right, and John McCain eats iceberg lettuce the American way—deep fried, on a stick, wrapped in bacon, stuffed in a Twinkie that’s been aged in the anus of an American bald eagle…and then wrapped in more bacon.”

The Beltway loves to stew over Obama’s eating habits; Maureen Dowd squandered valuable NY Times real estate to pontificate about his daughter Malia’s chilling revelation to Access Hollywood that her daddy doesn’t like ice cream [1]. And now, the Wall Street Journal [2]’s speculating that Obama’s thin frame may be as much of an issue for some Americans as his supposedly thin resumé. The article offers man-on-the-street soundbites from folks who say Obama is simply too fit to be president. And his healthy food choices could prove equally alienating:

Food faux pas have plagued presidential candidates in the past. On a 1976 visit to Texas, Gerald Ford bit into a tamale with the corn husk still on. He lost the election to Jimmy Carter. In 2003, Mass. Sen. John Kerry was labeled effete when he ordered a Philly cheesesteak with Swiss instead of the usual Cheez Whiz topping.

Sen. Obama's chief message strategist Robert Gibbs served as Sen. Kerry's press secretary during the cheesesteak debacle. A few days later at the Iowa State Fair, famous for its deep-fried Twinkies and beer booths, Mr. Gibbs noticed Sen. Kerry buying a $4 strawberry smoothie. He made a frantic call to campaign staffers: "Somebody get a f-ing corn dog in his hand -- now!"

Apparently there are plenty of voters who deem a candidate unqualified to be Leader of the Free World if he’s too much of a wuss to clog his arteries with fatty processed foods and develop even a hint of a beer belly. Do we dare elect a candidate with a fondness for fresh salad greens? He might do something really radical, like heed the pleas of the Rip-Out-The-White-House-Lawn-And-Grow-Veggies lobby [3] (see This Lawn is Your Lawn video above.) And then what? We’d not only have arugula in the White House, but all around it, too. The horror!