First Lady Michelle Obama has a new health initiative – she wants you to drink more water.
“So anyway, the First Lady was on the Today Show. And if you notice, they're turning on these people. They are starting to turn on them,” Glenn said on radio this morning. “She was on the Today Show with some ridiculous thing about how we just all have to drink extra water. It's a special initiative.”
Just how serious is the First Lady about your hydration? On Thursday morning, the Mrs. Obama made a taped appearance on NBC’s TODAY show, in which she jokes that she has “stolen Matt and Savannah’s mugs and exchanged them for water glasses” to get her point across. TODAY show anchor Savannah Guthrie, however, did not seen to be amused.
MATT LAUER: And the First Lady, Michelle Obama, sent us a special message about it. Take a look.
MICHELLE OBAMA: Hello, Today Show viewers, and good morning from the White House. Today I'm working to inspire Americans from all across the country to drink more water. That's why I've stolen Matt and Savannah's mugs and exchanged them with water glasses. Water is the best and easiest choice we can make to feel energized, focused, healthy and refreshed. You are what you drink. And when you drink water, you're at your best. So drink up.
After the taped message from Mrs. Obama finishes playing, Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie, Natalie Morales, and Al Roker are seen sitting out on the TODAY plaza with water glasses aloft, ready to do what the First Lady requests, Savannah Guthrie replies quite dryly, “If you say so.”
“I like what Savannah says there: ‘If you say so,’” Pat said. “It would seem to be a, ‘Yeah, I'm not buying into your nonsense on this one’ because she probably saw the report just like we did three weeks ago where none of that is true.”
While we have all been programmed to believe that we must drink 8 glasses of water a day, recent studies seem to indicate it might not be necessary.
“There really isn’t data to support this,” Dr. Stanley Goldfarb of the University of Pennsylvania tells Politico. “I think, unfortunately, frankly, they’re not basing this on really hard science. It’s not a very scientific approach they’ve taken. … To make it a major public health effort, I think I would say it’s bizarre.”
Sam Kass — the White House assistant chef and director of Let’s Move — cites obesity as one of the ills that could be reduced through more water consumption.
“We do have a quarter of kids who drink no water under the age of 19. And over 40 percent of Americans aren’t even drinking half the water we know is recommended for optimum health,” he told reporters in a conference call Wednesday.
Goldfarb, a kidney specialist, is troubled by White House claims that drinking more water boosts energy, calling that conclusion “quixotic.”
“We’re designed to drink when we’re thirsty,” Goldfarb adds. “There’s no need to have more than that.”
“Can I ask you a question, a real serious question? Is this all these people have to do with their time? Really? To try to teach us how to drink more water,” Glenn asked. “The world is on fire. Wouldn't you like to see the First Lady compassionate about the Christians that are being slaughtered? Wouldn't you like to see that? How about teaching somebody to read? How about going into the inner cities of Chicago that you're supposed to love so much and teaching them not to kill each other?”
“And they mocked, relentlessly mocked, Nancy Reagan for her antidrug campaign,” Stu added.
“This is one of the dumbest things I've ever seen,” Pat agreed. “There's no mocking going on. None.”
“I believe Brian Sack (of The B.S. of A.) may mock the water initiative,” Glenn concluded. “If they still want a paycheck. “
Front page image courtesy of the AP