July 22, 2005

Jonathan Chait: Bush Exercises Too Much!

Jonathan Chait, a senior editor at the New Republic, should check his waistbandÉhis leftism is showing.

In an op-ed piece in todayÕs LA Times, Chait complains that President Bush has Òan obsession with exercise that borders on the creepy.Ó

He has a problem with BushÕs hour-long bike rides and jogs. He has a problem with the time Bush spends in the weight room. What gives? With the left being concerned about the Òobesity epidemicÓ to the point of wanting to regulate how much junk food we can eat, why would someone like Chait get upset about exercise? From everything IÕve read, exercise is one of the healthiest things we can do for ourselves. It lowers blood pressure, cholesterol, and helps keep weight down.

Perhaps ChaitÕs difficulty with BushÕs propensity for exercise is because regular exercise hasnÕt yet been mandated by the courts, like having to wear a seat belt and having to wear a helmet while bicycling. Regular exercise still falls under the jurisdiction of personal responsibility. (We all know what the left thinks of personal responsibility!)

HereÕs one of ChaitÕs snarkier paragraphs:

There's no denying that the results are impressive. Bush can bench press 185 pounds five times, and, before a recent knee injury, he ran three miles at a 6-minute, 45-second pace. That's better than I could manage when I played two sports in high school. And I wasn't holding the most powerful office on Earth. Which is sort of my point: Does the leader of the free world need to attain that level of physical achievement?

What would Chait prefer? A leader who is on the verge of keeling over from ill health? And pardon me for wondering why one of the leftÕs loudest cheerleaders would question our presidentÕs physical fitness, considering how important they consider the good opinion of the rest of the world to be. Do they want Bush to next be the object of fat jokes?

He finishes up with this:

It's nice for Bush that he can take an hour or two out of every day to run, bike or pump iron. Unfortunately, most of us have more demanding jobs than he does.

Frankly, IÕd rather have a president who spends his off-time biking or jogging than seducing young interns in the Oval Office.

Oh, and the bit about the rest of us having Òmore demanding jobs than he doesÓ was a bit of overkill, wouldnÕt you agree? Is helping to run the New Republic really harder than being the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth? In that case, Chait 2008! has a wonderful ring to it.

HereÕs an exercise that might beneifit Chait: exercising restraint of the obvious distaste he has for President Bush.

*More thoughts on this come from Michelle Malkin and Independent Sources.*

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