Michelle Obama does Sysiphus

The CDC reports that Federal anti-obesity programs aren’t working.  Therefore, we need a bigger program!

But here’s the money quote:

The fattest states also tend to be poorer southern states, where there’s also relatively little stigma against fat. The thinnest states tend to be wealthier, and to include more university-educated Americans who choose to exercise more and to stigmatize obesity.

So the winning approach is simple, cheap, and totally Old School: STIGMA. Let’s start ridiculing, denigrating, and publicly embarrassing Overweight-Americans. Bring back nicknames like Tubby, Fatso, and Thunderthighs. After all, that’s what we’re doing to smokers, and it seems to be working. (Of course, it’s turning most of us into spiteful, ill-mannered shmucks, but that’s a small price to pay For The Children.)