This is a simple post with a simple request for Michelle Obama. The First Lady said yesterday, during a kids' health fair at the White House:
"My mother would tell us, 'dessert is not a right. It's a treat.'"
To which I say: Extrapolate, please. I'll also add that I think it's pretty cool that the First Lady can do 142 revolutions with a hula hoop, just in case anyone tries to say I never said anything nice about her. As long as she doesn't decide hula hoops are a "right," not a treat, and therefore necessitate a federal department to distribute them to all citizens using taxpayer money, she and I are on common ground in this area. Update: A colleague reminds me of this 2008 quote from Michelle, which contradicts her mother's wisdom:
Most Americans, she said, don't want much. "They don't want the whole pie," she told the women. "There are some who do, but most Americans feel blessed just being able to thrive a little bit. But that is becoming even more out of reach."... "The truth is, in order to get things like universal health care and a revamped education system, then someone is going to have to give up a piece of their pie so that someone else can have more."
So, dessert is a right, as long as the government takes it from someone who has a lot of dessert. Perhaps Michelle's quote is just another parable to prepare us for the imminent pie-stealing necessitated by Obamacare. These Obamas-so many layers.