Student grumbling about more fruits and vegetables on their cafeteria trays has become a welcome rallying cry for Republicans in the weeks before the Nov. 6 election.
Changes to the U.S. school lunch program that went into effect this year were championed by first lady Michelle Obama and added more whole grains, fruits, vegetables and low-fat options to menus. Photographer: Alex Wong/Getty Images
In the wake of high school demonstrations against a U.S. law that for the first time sets calorie caps on meals served in public schools and encourages healthier menus, conservative politicians have embraced the student movement. U.S. Representative Steve King, a Republican from Iowa, introduced legislation to repeal the calorie limits with Representative Tim Huelskamp, a Republican from Kansas, who visited with students behind a YouTube parody of school meals.
Meantime, Tea Party websites are buzzing with comments deriding the cap on school lunch calories as an example of the type of federal government encroachment that would be curbed by Mitt Romney, the Republican Party’s presidential candidate. The Tea Party wants to cut taxes, reduce spending and limit the U.S. government’s authority.
“It’s certainly taken a life of its own and it’s unusual for an issue like this to get this kind of attention in an election year,” Lawrence Jacobs, a political scientist at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, said in an interview. “It fits into the story line of Obama overreaching. It could have an impact in terms of further mobilizing Tea Party and conservatives.”
Changes to the U.S. school lunch program that went into effect this year were championed by first lady Michelle Obama and added more whole grains, fruits, vegetables and low-fat options to menus. The changes have led to lunch boycotts, Twitter campaigns and YouTube parodies that included students burning a copy of the federal school-lunch policy.
