Christie Too Round For the Oval?

The fat police are probably happy New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie decided not to run for president.

There were a few people out there who had said Christie is unqualified to be president because he is rather portly. An example was a column by Gene Robinson that raised the question of Christie's weight and the wisdom of running for president. Robinson's column wasn't too bad until he ended with the snarky unsolicited advice for Christie: "Eat a salad and take a walk."

I don't know if Chris Christie is qualified to be president or not,
but is his weight the deciding factor?

That made me run for the cupboard to scarf down some Twinkies.

Is that really the thing to focus on? He's fat? So skinny people are automatically qualified to be president? And fat people should just go off in the corner and eat their Doritos and shut up? If skinny means you're smart and disciplined, how to you explain skinny dumb slackers?

The beef with the beefy Christie, at least among some of those critics, is the fact that he is fat means that he is undisciplined. Um, Christie was somehow disciplined enough to become governor of New Jersey. He didn't get that far swilling Pabst Blue Ribbon and stuffings Cheetos into his cheeks.

Besides, most people have undisciplined corners of their lives even when they manage to focus on other things. President Obama struggled with cigarettes. Rick Perry says he was a lackluster college student, and he actually seems proud of that. We won't even get into the otherwise smart and hard working Bill Clinton's lapses into, um, extracurricular activities during his presidency.

Aren't there other, more important things to consider when evaluating Christie?  Little things, like his political positions, his demeanor, whether he is able to work with others. Can he negotiate? Be firm when need be? Understand complex policy?

I won't offer an opinion here on whether or not I like Christie's politics. But are looks the best way to judge who would make the best leader? I thought we're electing presidents, not studs and fashion models.   Vin Diesel for president?

While we're at it, why do some people think Hillary Clinton ought not be in public service because she wears pant suits? Must a woman look like a Playboy Bunny to run things? Do you really want a ditz to determine whether we, say, drop bombs on Pakistan? Can you picture it? "Oh, I thought Pakistan was my ex's last name. I thought we were bombing my ex's house, not a whole country. Me bad. (giggle)"

As for Christie, he's pretty P.O'd with the pundits talking about his weight. But he does make the distinction between pundits and comedians. Christie says he's a public figure, so he's fair game for the comedians. As long as they're funny, he said.

You know what? After this, maybe we should elect somebody who is very ugly for president. Physically, I mean. Could be the start of a brand new political trend









I dunno. That seems like discrimination to me. There's lots of legitimate ways