Well, this is awkward. Some remember President Barack Obama as young and fit, running laps around the White House with Joe Biden right alongside. We tend to remember him more riding in a golf cart, biking in mom jeans, and going 2 for 22 in free-throws at the White House Easter Egg Roll.
Mostly, we didn’t worry about Obama’s physical fitness — it was his policies that had us cringing. But Politico Magazine on Tuesday raised the question of President Trump’s physical fitness and what it means for the country.
Donald Trump is the least athletic president in generations. Here’s why it matters https://t.co/CUYNRJ8gNs via @benjstrauss in @POLITICOMag pic.twitter.com/66NAt7DK9V
— POLITICO (@politico) July 18, 2017
Ben Strauss writes:
In the modern history of American presidents, no occupant of the Oval Office has evinced less interest in his own health. He does not smoke or drink, but his fast-food, red meat-heavy diet, his aversion to exercise and a tendency to gorge on television for hours at a time put him at odds with his predecessors.
…
Presidents have long established standards of vigor and healthful living with their individual passions—Ford skied, Reagan rode horses, Carter liked to work on his farm—but Trump has managed to dispense with this unspoken obligation of the presidency as easily as he has every other White House norm. Indeed, Trump has broken with the tradition of displaying athleticism as a signal to the public that all was well with the world’s most important political body.
If a display of athleticism is necessary to let the public know all is well in the White House, then it’s probably a good thing that FDR did what he could to keep his polio under wraps, and we’re at a loss to know how President Hillary Clinton would keep the nation at ease — maybe we’d see some of those classified yoga routines after all?
OH my–you have GOT to be kidding me. https://t.co/UBLRdXDUwf
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) July 18, 2017
This is hard to believe. I saw Obama toss that baseball in his mom jeans….. ?
— Margie Jennings (@lilnarge1) July 18, 2017
I didn't know the President of the United States had to be an athlete ?it's gotta because of the Russians ??
— Kalina (@KalinaMcDaniel) July 18, 2017
If slapping the piss out of the MSM were a sport @realDonaldTrump would be in the hall of fame! What else matters? ?
— Brad (@BradBwicka) July 18, 2017
LOL!!! ANYTHING…his hands, his hair, his wife, his sons, his daughter, his handshake, and now his athletic ability. It's UNBELIEVABLE!
— WomanOnaMission (@Kathrynv904) July 18, 2017
@politico
The left is so funny. Our last prez was such an athlete. ?? pic.twitter.com/rJgKnW0ceB— Beth Melito (@Bmelito87) July 18, 2017
Guess they never witnessed Obama throw a baseball or Clinton slow jog to McDonalds!!! Just laughable.
— Michael Moskaitis (@Tucsonmike520) July 18, 2017
Oh just stop it please!! You're ridiculous! Do you not remember Hillary falling and coughing all over the freaking country. This is Stupid!
— Angela Schwan (@schwan_angela) July 18, 2017
Tremendous investigative journalism on such a critical subject!! ?
— Jeff Eastwood (@ewrock24) July 18, 2017
Someone should've done their research; he was scouted by the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies as a star 1st baseman.
— Laina Usko Firestone (@LainaFirestone) July 18, 2017
You wouldn't have posted the same about Hillary, because the truth can be sexist at times.
— Josh Dawson (@JDawson168) July 18, 2017
https://twitter.com/stubbornone1/status/887420158712709120
What does Politico Magazine think the qualifying event should be for Elizabeth Warren? Bernie Sanders? Maybe the two could just arm wrestle rather than debate. Or is it OK to suggest they’re both simply too old to be president and fulfill that “unspoken obligation” of physical activity?
Oh, please. ? Like Hillary would've been such a more athletic President…cough, cough, cough, hack, hack, hack, faint.
— Jo B. (@jobabs_69) July 18, 2017
Obama practicing for the Tour de France. The next Lance Armstrong. pic.twitter.com/VGKP7BDnu8
— MAGA-GIRL ?? (@45KAG2020) July 18, 2017
#MAGA pic.twitter.com/ukfMrF9sL5
— ADHD Capital LLC ™ (@ADHD_Capital) July 18, 2017
* * *
Related:
Opening day flashback: Watch Obama's horrible first pitch in 2010 https://t.co/GeWgLRXg9t pic.twitter.com/T22elmJyBz
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 5, 2016
Join the conversation as a VIP Member