I've been thinking about a Fat President, ever since that pic of Jeb

[mcscajun]

showed up yesterday.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2360619&mesg_id=2360619

Turns out I wasn't the only one...

Weighty matters

A fat president might be just what we need to lighten the load.

By Garrison Keillor

We haven't had a fat president since William Howard Taft and that was at the tail end of the Gilded Age, when politicians were expected to be portly. We've had a few semi-beefy ones since (Harding, Hoover), and LBJ carried a potbelly, and Bill Clinton had his moments of bloat, but the American people, now that two-thirds of us are overweight, prefer that the Great White Father be lean, taut, angular, a runner or horseman or cutter of brush. Whereas a guy who looks like he'd be right at home in a Barcalounger with a can of Pabst in his mitt doesn't seem to fit the bill.

I suppose that a compact build indicates some sort of self-discipline, but discipline to do what? Look at Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot. None of them was a hearty eater, and for good reason: paranoia. When you're a megalomaniac, it takes away your appetite, thinking of all the folks who'd love to put rat poison in your ratatouille.

It is human to put butter on mashed potatoes and to choose the cheese plate instead of the lo-fat gelatin and to linger over the port wine and chocolates. The man who denies himself might satisfy his hungers elsewhere, promulgating reckless policies, such as a war against a nation that poses no threat to us and torturing those whom he deems enemies and detaining them at his pleasure and marching his troops into a quagmire. A fat man, someone who must heave himself to his feet in the morning and behold a great pile of flesh in the bathroom mirror, the matronly pectorals and the enormous haunches and spare tire, might be more circumspect. He already looks like an emperor, so he would try harder not to act like one.

(snip)

Fat men spend more time in contemplation, if only because they get winded climbing stairs and need to sit down. Because they jiggle when they walk, they may be less prone to delusions of grandeur. The fat man doesn't expect his supporters to hoist him to their shoulders. Nor does he hope to sneak around undetected. He is able to face up to his own mistakes. (How can he not? They are hanging over his belt.) He has lived with derision and that gives him a sense of compassion that may be lacking in a Medium or Small. And yet like Churchill, he knows what it's like to rouse oneself to heroic effort. Neville Chamberlain was the elegant guy in the 36 Extra Long who kept backing down from the Nazis. It was the Old Fat Man who spoke of blood, sweat and tears. He knew about sweat.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2006/01/11/keillor/index.html

I left out the part where he talks favorably of Hastert as a fat man for President; after all, you folks on the West Coast haven't eaten breakfast yet.

Please leave out the fat bashing on this one, okay? I'm a Fat Person myself. It's a shame I even have to ask, but I've seen enough of it here on DU to make me skittish.

[AirmensMom]

1. Thanks.

I LOVE Garrison Keillor. :loveya:

[DS1]

2. I vote Tom Menino for Prez

And btw, I don't give a fuck if someone clears brush or not. It's a stupid waste of time design to fill the day of an idiot.

[mcscajun]

3. I checked his pic...he knows what it feels like to be outside

of a good meal. :)

Brush-clearing...FEH! I'll take a contemplative man over a "man of action" any old day.

[DS1]

4. He's also the Mayor of Bahstun

So everyone can talk about his ackscent

[Gato Moteado]

5. but cheney is kinda fat

and i'm sure he gets winded going up stairs.

[mcscajun]

6. Well, we don't want just *any* fat man...

:)

We have to have standards. :)