There’s another scourge even worse than racism afflicting America, ABC News reports:

Study: ‘Weight-ism’ More Widespread Than Racism

It’s illegal to discriminate against someone because of race or gender, but our culture condones a bias against people who are overweight.

There are no federal laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of weight, and only Michigan has such a law, according to a new study from Yale University.

As a result, the researchers contend, weight discrimination is spiraling upward, and that’s a dangerous trend that could add fuel to the obesity epidemic.

Since Barack Obama has appointed himself Understander-and-Sermonizer-in-Chief***, I expect from him a groundbreaking Lincolnesque speech about “fat-ism” any day now.

There may be a glitch, though. One of the “understanders” about fat-ism explains the tragic conditions that prevail to make the overweight feel persecuted [e.a.]:

“We send a message to citizens in our culture that this is something that is tolerated,” she said. “We live in a culture where we obviously place a premium on fitness, and fitness has come to symbolize very important values in our culture, like hard work and discipline and ambition. Unfortunately, if a person is not thin, or is overweight or obese, then they must lack self-discipline, have poor willpower, etc., and as a result they get blamed and stigmatized.”

Senator Obama may not be able to weigh in effectively on this topic. He considers certain foods too “decadent“:

At the chocolate factory, he went into the kitchen, where five white-haired women in plastic hairnets spun chocolate into a variety of shapes. He picked out a few candies for his daughters, handing them for safekeeping to aide Reggie Love.

Watching the process, he said: “Can I ask you the truth, though? Do you actually eat the chocolate or do you get sick of it?”

The workers giggled. “We make it; of course we eat it,” said Jean Hockbenerocht.

Later, at the diner, Obama was plied with a chocolate cake. “Oh man, that’s too decadent for me,” he demurred. A woman then offered him a Styrofoam container, which he opened, finding a burger, cheese fries and onion rings. Obama shrugged, took a ring, and tossed the container back.

Is Barack Obama a secret stigmatizer of fat people?

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*** Here’s what he told the ladies of The View:

The candidate explained, “Part of what my role in my politics is to get people who don’t normally listen to each other to talk to each other, who [say] crazy things, who are offended by each other, for me to understand them and to maybe help them understand each other.”