State Of The Union: The health-kick governor

By Paul Greenberg
Of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

In the run-up to the US presidential election, the BBC is broadcasting the reflections of commentators from around the country. This week Paul Greenberg from Little Rock, Arkansas, outlines the state governor's campaign to get his fellow citizens to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

It must be something in the water.

During his 1992 presidential campaign, Bill Clinton performed "Heartbreak Hotel" on TV

The little town of Hope, in south-west Arkansas, not far from the Louisiana border, has produced a couple of contemporary American figures who, quite aside from being prominent politicians, are just remarkable human organisms.

The first one the whole world knows by now: Bill Clinton, the former governor of Arkansas and president of the United States who is still a player in the Democratic Party.

He is now recovering from a quadruple heart bypass at the home he shares with his wife, the current junior senator from New York and future presidential possibility, Hillary Clinton.

The other "man from Hope" is Mike Huckabee, the current Republican Governor of Arkansas and the second longest serving governor in the Union next to New York's George Pataki.

He has made headlines of late by going on a diet, losing more than 100 pounds - 45 kilograms - and becoming Exhibit No 1 in this fat-clogged country's efforts to fight obesity, which has reached sizeable proportions.

Much like a lot of Americans.

While Bill Clinton played the saxophone, the current governor has a whole rock 'n' roll band, composed of a few friends and members of his staff.

It is called Capitol Offense (because most of its members work at the State Capitol).

In Arkansas a governor needs to be a super salesman

The governor himself plays bass guitar and a group picture of the band would look like something out of the Blues Brothers.

Especially when Governor Huckabee dons his shades and pork-pie hat.

This ensemble played at the recent Republican National Convention in New York.

The governor says he would like to perform at the White House some day but his real hope, he will tell you earnestly, is that some record company executive will "come by and give a listen".

Performer

Would he give up politics for a recording contract?

"In a heartbeat," he says, deadpan.

Mike Huckabee was 48 when he started his new healthy regime

Mike Huckabee has always been that way, his college buddies will tell you, with a "to do" list a mile long, all of which has just been done.

He loves to perform and, when he gives a speech, you can never be sure whether he will move you to tears or leave you a little embarrassed by the corny jokes.

He takes risks. But he has never risked being mediocre - even when he was working his way through Ouachita Baptist University in record time while holding down a full-time job or two off campus.

Whether as a salesman, sports announcer or disc jockey, he was always a great talker.

Naturally he became a Baptist preacher.

Salesman

When he was at Immanuel Baptist Church in Pine Bluff, Arkansas - where I edited the local paper's editorial page for about half an eternity - he started his own church television channel and got me to do a weekly public affairs programme for it. Gratis.

I told you, the guy is a natural salesman. And here in Arkansas a governor needs to be a super salesman.

Every new major highway project - along with the taxes to fund it - requires a popular vote, thanks to a state constitution dating back to 1874 that puts a lot of restrictions on state government.

Mike Huckabee's predecessor tried to pass such a project but it was beaten down nine to one.

This governor proposed the largest highway bond issue in the state's history, along with a tax raise to pay for it, and his plan passed comfortably.

That is no mean feat in a small, poor and tax-wary state.

A lot of it had to do with the personal trust he inspires and his ability to tailor a proposal to meet the voters' preferences.

Then he got a comprehensive reform of public education through a balky state legislature dominated by the opposition party.

Obesity

And now he has become the leading advertisement for the state's fight against obesity and for exercise and a healthy diet.

Here in the country's Deep Fried Belt fluffy biscuits and cream gravy are considered a healthy breakfast

He had to do it, the governor explains.

He was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and, as with every other challenge he has faced, he decided to do something about it.

Namely go on a medically supervised diet and begin an exercise programme. He is now walking or running about three miles a day and putting in 30 minutes three times a week on his stationary bike.

The results have been dramatic. Whenever I see him, I want to ask where the rest of him is.

Lesson

Not long ago, visiting a junior high school in the north-western corner of the state, the 49-year-old governor came on stage carrying a 13-year-old, 90-pound seventh-grader, Brittany Alsup, on his back.

"That's how much I was carrying around every day," he told the giggling kids.

And he added: "You know what happens after Brittany's been on for a while - all 90 pounds of her?

"I tell you what. She wears me out."

Q.E.D. Point made. Lesson taught. Those students are not going to forget that sight.

By now Mike Huckabee has gone from a heavy-breathing 280 pounds - a heart attack waiting to happen - down to 175.

And it shows or, rather, it doesn't.

He has had to drop not just pounds but the ingrained habits of a lifetime - habits a lot of us share here in the country's Deep Fried Belt, where fluffy biscuits and cream gravy are considered a healthy breakfast.

Svelte

Now, Mike Huckabee talks about seeing his fellow governor, California's Arnold Schwarzenegger - world-class body-builder, movie star, and political comer - at the Republican National Convention in New York.

The "governator" has won the Mr Universe title five times

A natural mimic, the governor quotes Ah-nuld's reaction to his new, svelte self:

"Vhat are you tryin' to do - steal my thundah?"

But the governor has been more than a tireless pitchman for good health.

Thanks to him, Arkansas now requires every school in the state to run a Body Mass Index on each of its students and to send the results home to parents.

The index is a calculation based on height, weight, age and sex of the student, and can be used as an indicator of real or potential weight problems.

It is not a perfect predictor, but it is a useful signal. And an early warning.

Revolution

In a Southern state where family privacy is revered and government interference always suspected, it took a revolution in attitude for the legislature to approve that kind of report card on each kid's weight.

And it took a governor who knows his people - and talks our language - to make the case for it.

The high cost of carrying around all that fat is also reflected in everybody's higher insurance premiums

A day after Arkansas's other famous native son, Bill Clinton, underwent his heart surgery in New York, the first year's compilation of Body Mass Indexes came in.

It showed that 40% of the state's schoolchildren were overweight or at risk of becoming so.

No one was really surprised.

There are a lot of chubby kids around here. And a lot of chubby adults. The cuisine in this part of the country is not exactly low-carb.

Southern fried chicken may be our best-known dish - served with mashed potatoes and vegetables soaked in butter - but barbecue is another tradition in these latitudes and everybody has his favourite barbecue joint.

Fries

Those old favourites are now aided and abetted by the general American weakness for fast food, notably double cheeseburgers.

"You want fries with that?" has become an American mantra.

Only a native son, someone who knows the culture, talks our talk, sings our songs and has grown up eating our food, might be able to get us to change our ways.

And our diet.

Someone like Mike Huckabee. He is doing it by pointing out the high cost of carrying around all that fat, not just in shorter life spans but in the cost of health care, which is reflected in everybody's higher insurance premiums.

At the same time, the governor emphasises that he does not want to turn his office into the grease police.

He is, after all, a Republican and no friend of busybody government.

Fervour

A natural performer, Mike Huckabee can deliver a sermon as readily as a campaign speech, both with the same evangelical fervour.

People here can identify with a governor who likes bass fishing in his snazzy boat a lot more than sitting around the office.

And he is married to a "good ol' girl" who has gone rattlesnake hunting in neighbouring Oklahoma and likes to parachute out of aeroplanes.

Not exactly your stereotypical Southern belle. Janet Huckabee is more First Tomboy than First Lady.

It is Mike Huckabee who is the preacher and politician in the family. And now he has become something of an evangelist for good health.

He has always believed in the power of the Word. And he has a point.

Look at how making smoking unfashionable has made smokers pariahs in modern day America.

Arkansas's governor is now taking aim our at our unhealthy diets and sedentary ways and I would not underestimate his influence.

Why, I myself am thinking of skipping the yeast rolls at lunch and maybe even that slice of pecan pie.

State Of The Union is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Fridays at 2050 BST and repeated on Sundays at 0850 BST.