Physical Fitness: A Creepy Obsession?
August 2, 2005
Michael Medved

The always inventive Los Angeles Times recently discovered a new reason to despise President Bush: his personal commitment to physical fitness. Suggesting the chief executive's daily exercise routine represents an "obsession ... that borders on the creepy," columnist Jonathan Chait describes the notion of any connection between physical and mental fitness as "silly," comparing Bush to the "perfectly toned airheads in Hollywood."

Actually, the president's demanding exercise schedule reflects the key element of his mature personality, which is self-discipline. He runs or bicycles with the same reliability with which he prays and studies the Bible every morning, arrives early for every appointment and gets to bed by 10 p.m.

Most Americans consider such discipline a virtue, but liberal hatred for Bush is so intense that even his most admirable characteristics--consistency, determination, cheerfulness, deep religious faith, self-deprecating humor and, yes, remarkable physical fitness--become, for them the basis for contempt and derision.

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