First Crony Michelle Obama’s Big Business
Bonanza
By Michelle Malkin
MichelleMalkin.com
While her husband’s signature health care law
goes up in flames, first lady Michelle Obama is
reveling in the success of her East Wing pet
project, the “Let’s Move” initiative. But ignore the
do-gooder dressing. Mrs. Obama doesn’t care about
your children. What we have here is a textbook case
of Washington influence peddling, which the Obamas
so vigorously condemned a long time ago and far
away.
On Wednesday, Mrs. Obama announced an agreement by
the Sesame Workshop and the Produce Marketing
Association (PMA) to join her nonprofit Partnership
for a Healthier America (PHA) in a two-year
agreement to help promote fresh fruit and vegetable
consumption to kids. Among the corporate interests
Mrs. Obama has wooed to her cause: Wal-Mart, Nike,
Reebok, Nickelodeon, Walt Disney and the
administration’s former Public Enemy No. 1, the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce.
Politico.com notes that trade groups including the
American Beverage Association, the International
Bottled Water Association, the Food Marketing
Institute, the Grocery Manufacturers Association and
the National Restaurant Association are all working
with the first lady behind closed doors.
Her related initiative “Drink Up” is supported by
the American Beverage Association, water filter
companies BRITA and SOMA, and bottled water brands
Aquafina, BEVERLY HILLS 9OH2O, DASANI, EVIAN Natural
Spring Water, Hint, Voss, WAT-AAH!, Nestle Waters
North America’s Arrowhead, Deer Park, Ice Mountain,
Nestle Pure Life, Ozarka, Poland Spring and
Zephyrhills. Joining her for the rollout of that
initiative: Hollywood actress Eva Longoria, who gets
paid to promote sugary soda pop Pepsi when she’s not
standing by Michelle Obama telling the rest of us to
drink more healthy water.
Mrs. Obama’s nonprofit reportedly has assets of $4.5
million. It doesn’t have to disclose its donors. So
much for the “most transparent administration ever.”
Even left-wing watchdogs are irked. “This is a
classic case of the game of influence peddling by
lobbying associations,” Craig Holman, who works for
the liberal watchdog group Public Citizen, told
Politico.com. “Lobbyists and corporations with
business pending before the federal government
invest in such charitable causes as a means to buy
access and favor from the White House.”
In 2008, candidate Obama preached: “We need a
president who will look out for the interests of
hardworking families, not just their big campaign
donors and corporate allies.” In 2013, first lady
Michelle Obama is busy signing up as many corporate
allies as she can.
As I’ve reported previously, Mrs. Obama has profited
handsomely from the very same processed food
industry she now demonizes. In June 2005, a few
months after her husband was elected to the U.S.
Senate, Mrs. Obama was named to the corporate Board
of Directors of TreeHouse Foods, Inc.
Despite zero experience, the food-processing company
put her on its audit and nominating and corporate
governance committees. For her on-the-job training
and the privilege of putting her name and face on
their literature, the company forked over $45,000 in
2005 and $51,200 in 2006 to Mrs. Obama — as well as
7,500 TreeHouse stock options worth more than
$72,000 for each year. TreeHouse, a leading supplier
to Wal-Mart, sells cheese sauces, Cremora non-dairy
creamer, instant soup, puddings and powdered soft
drink mixes, and pickles for McDonald’s. Eat as she
says, not as she deals.
Mrs. Obama has moved on from TreeHouse to much fatter “partnerships.” The alliances between big business and big government, marketed as a public service “for the children,” have been a bonanza for the first crony. They scratch her back, her clout and popularity increase, and she’ll have a cornucopia of board of director slots to choose from after her hubby’s term is up. Make no mistake: Michelle’s fruits and vegetables are served on a heaping platter of progressive hypocrisy.
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2013