One Year Later: President Obama’s Food Policy
2010 January 24
of Obama’s approach to food policy during his first year in office. Mark Boyer of ChicagoNow.com does a great job of hitting the highs and, of course, the lows.
How do you think Obama has done in terms of food policy during his first year? Has he been the strong advocate for sustainable agriculture that we need?
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As a progressive, I’m mightily disappointed in Obama across the board, but not surprised. We old farts knew this would be the game. I think his food policy is much like the rest of his presidency at this point–one step forward, two steps back, all in an effort to reinstate the status quo while making minor, gradual changes in a vain attempt to calm folks like me.
I’m a bit concerned about the First Lady’s focus on fat kids. Instead of embracing a the Health at Every Size platform, she’s further stigmatizing a segment of the population. Research indicates that the stigma further harms fat folks, but that doesn’t seem to stop anyone. It’s maddening.
I’d love to see the First Lady focus less on making kids thin (dream on!) and instead on making a Farm Bill and food system that works for the benefit of the people, not 5 major corporations. But the money made from that approach will impact local communities and not major corporations. As long as the focus of the federal government continues to be Wall Street, I don’t think we’re going to see any significant changes to the current food system structure. (Thus ends this novel.)