Some GOP stalwarts defend first lady's anti-obesity campaign from Palin's shots [View All]

[RamboLiberal]

Some Republicans watching the cluttered 2012 presidential field may have found an unlikely point of disagreement: the first lady and flab.

Sarah Palin has taken to assailing Michelle Obama's anti-obesity initiative on her reality show and elsewhere, while former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, the Republican Party's resident authority on obesity and a potential Palin rival, has been defending it from Palin's salvos. Two other possible GOP presidential contenders, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and former senator Rick Santorum (Pa.), have also praised Obama's efforts.

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Barbour offered praise for Obama's efforts in March, when the first lady toured Mississippi, the nation's fattest state for the fifth straight year and one that has its own statewide efforts to fight fat.

"As Mrs. Obama takes this campaign nationally, she'll be a catalyst. . . . She'll be a fantastic spokesman, leader," he said.

And Santorum said Wednesday that it is "a proper role for the first lady to highlight something as important as childhood nutrition and what parents can do."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/29/AR2010122901940.html