Michelle Obama Speaks Out: Former First Lady Slams New Administration’s Policy

New reports indicate that former first lady Michelle Obama is outraged at the Trump administration’s decision to cut back on stringent regulations regarding the nutritional requirements of school lunches.

According to a CNN story, the 53-year-old wife of former president Barack Obama claims that certain issues are too important to make political, and children’s nutrition is one such issue.

“You have to stop and think, ‘Why don’t you want our kids to have good food at school?’ What is wrong with you, and why is that a partisan issue? Why would that be political?”

Mrs. Obama’s statements follow the current Agriculture Secretary’s recent decision to “relax” certain standards for the 2018 school year in regards to whole grains, salt, and milk requirements in lunches. According to insiders, the decision came after “years of feedback from students, schools, and food service experts about the challenges they are facing in meeting the final regulations for school meals.” Supporters of the decision say records indicate that the regulations cost states and their respective school districts over $1 billion in additional expenses in 2015, and student participation in school lunch programs notably decreased over that same time period.

The actual “proclamation” that the Secretary signed essentially allows individual states to exempt certain schools from having to meet the nutritional standards in these grain, salt, and milk areas. Ironically, these standards were all established during the Obama administration.

One such exemption includes no longer requiring these schools to meet the “100 percent whole-grain-rich standard” in their breads and other assorted baked goods. The other exemptions allow these same schools to serve milk that is not fat-free, and now make it perfectly acceptable for these schools to ignore the strict barriers originally erected to limit the amount of sodium allowed in certain items.

Obama, speaking as an esteemed guest at the Partnership for a Healthier America Summit (a gathering of nonprofits and other organizations “focused on creating solutions to ensure every child grows up at a healthy weight”), was quite adamant that America’s children should not have to suffer at the hands of politics. She indicated that it is the job of the American populace to stand up for “our kids’ health,” and that “we owe them” nothing less.

Glad to be back at the #PHASummit. No one should play politics with our kids’ health. We owe them. Let’s make our voices heard. pic.twitter.com/g2ZDbwZk5u

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) May 12, 2017

Sources claim that one reason Michelle Obama may be so fired up about the new administration’s alterations to the school menu might be because its most recent policy directly opposes her “Let’s Move!” public health initiative focused on fighting childhood obesity. In fact, her campaign’s home page lists one of its very first goals as “providing healthier foods in our schools,” along with other things like “helping children become more physically active” and “fostering environments that support healthy choices.”

Sources also indicate that Obama seems to think the Trump administration’s decision to loosen regulations on school food is either a petty attempt to undermine her husband’s former policies, or an issue of politicizing things that, in her opinion, just don’t need to be politicized.

“Moms, think about this. I don’t care what state you live in. Take me out of the equation; like me, don’t like me, but think about why someone is OK with your kids eating crap.”

In her speech, she expressed that her “commitment to these issues is real”- indicating that she’s so concerned about fighting childhood obesity because she has a “deep passion for it as a mother.”

Reports indicate that although the former first lady mentioned neither President Trump, nor first lady Melania Trump by name, she made it fairly clear to the audience that she blames the new president for how his administration is handling school nutrition.

Former president Bill Clinton was also listed as a keynote speaker at the event, though his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, did not appear to be in attendance. Other speakers included model Cindy Crawford and actress Gabrielle Union.

[Featured Image by Alex Wong/Staff/Getty Images]