Why Chris Christie won’t be president - By Joan Walsh

It's not his size, it's his temper, as he tells a former White House doctor worried about his weight to "shut up"

BY JOAN WALSH

I’m not a fan of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, although I respected his bipartisan stewardship during Hurricane Sandy. But I’ve defended him, on “NOW With Alex Wagner,” to offer one example, from charges that his weight disqualifies him from being president. Obesity is first and foremost a health matter, even if scolds try to make it a matter of discipline. There’s also a huge class bias in our preference for thinness today. Obviously Christie isn’t someone who can’t afford healthy food or to get the weight loss help he needs, at this point in his life anyway. But a lot of working and middle class people can probably identify with his inability to lose weight and keep it off. Certainly Bill Clinton’s struggles with his own size were part of what endeared him to common folks. It also set him up for serious heart disease in his 60s.

Uh oh, but I shouldn’t have mentioned health issues related to being overweight, because we know that sets Christie off — particularly, it seems, when an uppity lady brings it up. Everyone’s heard about the governor’s heart-warming star-turn with David Letterman, despite Letterman’s repeated and sometimes cruel jokes about his weight. Now we’re hearing about the way he chewed up former White House doctor Connie Mariano, a Republican and a fan, for warmly expressing concern about his weight, calling her a “hack” and telling her to “shut up.”

The mellow Chris Christie showed up Monday night and munched on a jelly a donut, cracking up the crowd. But he also talked about his health. “I’m basically the healthiest fat guy you’ve ever seen in your life,” he told Letterman, revealing that recent medical tests show his blood sugar and cholesterol levels are normal.

The next day, he continued to open up about his weight. “If you talked to anybody who has struggled with their weight, what they would tell you is `every week, every month, every year, there’s a plan,’” Christie told reporters on Tuesday. “The idea that somehow I don’t care about this, of course I care about it, and I’m making the best effort I can.” He acknowledged on and off dieting over the next 30 years — “Sometimes I’m successful, and other times I’m not,” he said — and confessed “there is a plan” for him to focus on his weight once again. “Whether it’s successful or not,” he said, “you’ll all be able to notice.”

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http://www.salon.com/2013/02/07/why_chris_christie_wont_be_president/