Heh.
(CNS News) — The former home congressional district of President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama ranks dead last in the United States for “healthy behavior,” according to the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index released this month.
Out of 436 districts measured by the Well-Being Index — including the 435 U.S. Congressional Districts plus the District of Columbia — the 1st Congressional District of Illinois ranked 436th for the “healthy behavior” of its residents in 2010. That was down from the district’s ranking of 408th for “healthy behavior” in 2009, which was Mrs.Obama’s first year as first lady.
Every one of the Gallup-Healthways top ten Congressional Districts for “healthy behavior” was in California. That state’s 46th District, represented by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R.), was ranked No. 1, and its 14th District, represented by Rep. Anna Eshoo (D.), ranked No. 2.
In 2000, then-Illinois State Sen. Barack Obama challenged incumbent U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush in the Democratic primary for the 1st District of Illinois. Rush defeated Obama, 61 percent to 30 percent. After that race, the 1st District was redrawn — putting the Obamas’ home just beyond its borders. “Surely not by coincidence, redistricting shifted Obama’s Hyde Park home two blocks outside the new lines and removed the 19th Ward that he had carried,” says the Almanac of American Politics.
Depending on how you look at it, the 1st District of Illinois’ dead last ranking for “healthy behavior” may be either ironic or fitting, given that Mrs. Obama has made encouraging healthy behavior a hallmark of her service as first lady.