Republican primary voters often seem to nominate an heir-apparent candidate to run for president, but this year might be different, as the same voters who dislike President Obama’s government expansion might resent the idea of following an establishment candidate.
Over the weekend, I had a casual conversation with a conservative voter who volunteered her thoughts on Gov. Chris Christie, R-NJ. “I don’t agree with a lot of his policies, but I might vote for him anyway [if he runs for president],” she said. Why? “I’m tired of Michelle Obama telling us what food we should eat and I’m tired of people saying a presidential candidate has to be this, that and the other thing.”
(Christie is overweight, as you might have heard. Incidentally, he also supports Michelle Obama’s efforts to get children to eat healthier food.)
But I found it interesting how First Lady Michelle Obama’s Healthy Food campaign – which has the laudable goal of reducing childhood obesity, but has been criticized as getting the government too involved in parenting — has become a metonymy for the expansion of governmental authority under President Obama.
Republicans would like this election cycle to turn on issues of government overreach, as displayed in Obamacare’s individual mandate, the Environmental Protection Agency’s regulatory bypass of Congress, and economic weakness exacerbated by uncertainty regarding the regulations that bureaucrats in the executive branch might write. “Michelle Obamacare” is among the least of the nation’s problems, but it could be a banner that many rally against.
