One reason not to dislike Michelle Obama

Two days ago it was announced that Michelle Obama would appear on The Biggest Loser, a television show about obese people trying to lose weight:

http://news.yahoo.com/michelle-obama-appear-biggest-loser-083501735.html

All First Ladies adopt pet causes, and Obama has chosen eating right and exercising as hers.

You sometimes hear people criticize her for violating her own eating guidelines. People occasionally express sentiments like, who does she think she is to be telling us what to eat and what to do? Some have tried to characterize her cause as symptomatic of the Democrats' attempt to turn our country into a nanny state. A few make snippy comments about the way she likes to show off her toned arms, or about the way she often seems to indulge in ribs or hamburgers herself.

But a third of Americans are obese, and another third are overweight. The incidence of diabetes is way up, and there are plenty of other health consequences to carrying too much fat. To try to rally people to eat right and exercise is a good cause, and also a nonpartisan one.

If you criticize Michelle Obama for this, your dislike of her comes off as reflexive and unthinking. There are many far better reasons for disliking the First Lady and her husband.

Don't use this one, unless you want to come across as prejudiced and full of bile.