Another Obama “success” turns out to be pretty thin gruel.

The big news from the Centers for Disease Control last month that obesity rates for preschoolers had plummeted by almost half got big headlines and a lot of positive press for first lady Michelle Obama.

But it turns out the news that the obesity rate had fallen by 43 percent among children aged 2 to 5 was more bogus than big, according to a Reuters report published Sunday.

Basically, the CDC study – published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in February – was based on a sample size that was too small to draw any solid conclusions, Reuters reported. And no other evidence was presented or exists to back it up. A much larger study, conducted by the Women, Infants and Children program at the same time found preschool obesity rates basically unchanged, and actually rose in some places.

That didn’t stop the CDC from claiming in the opening sentence of its press release that  it had seen “a significant decline in obesity among children aged 2 to 5 years.”

And it didn’t stop the CDC from including a quote from Michelle happily extolling how great her personal “Let’s Move!” campaign is.

“I am thrilled at the progress we’ve made over the last few years in obesity rates among our youngest Americans,” she said in the release. “With the participation of kids, parents, and communities in Let’s Move! these last four years,  healthier habits are beginning to become the new norm.”

The ever-Obama loving New York Times chimed in, noting “Michelle Obama, the first lady, has led a push to change young children’s eating and exercise habits and 10,000 child care centers across the country have signed on.”

CNN outdid itself, publishing a lengthy piece that linked the CDC’s announcement with the four-year anniversary of the beginning of the “Let’s Move!” campaign.

“While childhood obesity rates are beginning to fall, we still have a long way to go before we solve this problem once and for all,” the first lady said in the piece.

Actually, the norm is the president and first lady claiming successes they haven’t earned – going back to before they were even in the White House.

Barack Obama achieved the presidency on an empty political resume and a mirage campaign, won the Nobel Peace Prize for doing literally nothing in the cause of peace, and won re-election with the help of the Internal Revenue Service.

Now, with the train wreck of Obamacare, he and his minions keeps spinning numbers — of the uninsured, of enrollments, of what success looks like. So his wife’s claim of success in single-handedly turning around the living habits of the nation’s preschoolers is pretty small beer.

Here’s one achievement they have earned: They make the Clintons look honest.

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Joe Saunders

Joe Saunders, a 25-year newspaper veteran, is a staff writer and editor for BizPac Review who lives in Tallahassee and covers capital and Florida politics. Email Joe at [email protected].

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