First lady campaigns against childhood obesity

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The first lady is embarking on a cause, as anyone near a television set today will see: Michelle Obama is to appear on ‘Good Morning America’ and a run of other shows through ‘PBS’ Newshour’ tonight for her campaign against childhood obesity.

‘I love burgers and fries,’ she admitted to ABC News. ‘The question is, how do we balance that all out?’

With an estimated one-third of all American children carrying too much weight and an epidemic of childhood diabetes, the first mom hopes to change the way millions of Americans eat.

Health officials are cheering her on.

‘Anything she can do would be helpful because the burden of the problem is just that profound,’ said Clyde Yancy, president of the American Heart Assn.

-- Mark Silva

First Lady Michelle Obama speaks at an event to announce an ambitious national goal of solving the challenge of childhood obesity within a generation so that children born today will reach adulthood at a healthy weight and unveiled a nationwide campaign, Tuesday, February 9, 2010 in Washington, D.C. (Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/MCT)