Many of the most effective figures in the public arena have been overweight. An outsized build has often contributed to a larger-than-life reputation on the stage of history.
The latest reference to Gov. Christie’s large frame occurred earlier this week during his appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman. As the host discussed Christie’s weight, the governor showed some self-deprecating humor by pulling out two jelly donuts.
By turns, Christie was also serious. “I’m making the best effort I can,” the governor told Letterman. “Sometimes I’m successful and sometimes I’m not.”
In a report in Wednesday’s Star-Ledger, a physician who served both Democratic and Republican Presidents told a reporter that excessive personal weight can hinder an elected official’s career. “The thing that’s holding (Christie) back, I’ll be honest, is his weight,” the doctor ventured.
History, however, paints a different picture.
Henry VIII, the 16th century English monarch who likely tipped the scales at 300 pounds (or nearly 22 stone), had an extraordinary career. By deposing the Roman Pope from headship over the English Church, Henry famously set England on an independent political course. Though a lifelong Catholic, his pro-active and patriotic action also helped jump-start the Reformation in England, contributing to the growth of religious liberty.
As we know, the Tudor monarch was equally larger than life in his personal affairs, acquiring (and deposing) six wives.
Closer to home, America’s own William Howard Taft completed an important, if somewhat less colorful, career.
A Republican who served one term just before the First World War, President Taft promoted the bust-up of business monopolies and worked to reform the civil service. He also (perhaps less fortuitously) promoted the adoption of the 16th Amendment, which gave the federal government the power to levy the income tax.
After leaving the White House, Taft served nearly a decade as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, the only President to lead both the nation’s executive and judicial branches.
President Taft was succeeded by Woodrow Wilson, who got us into the world war (after running a campaign that “he kept us out of the war”). Wilson also brought a vastly more intrusive federal government to Americans during that war and flubbed his efforts win American support for the League of Nations.
Unlike Taft, Wilson was a skinny man.
Moving back across the Atlantic, Winston Churchill was a heavy man, who broke all the health rules by indulging in good food and good cigars. (Stories that he indulged the bottle daily are unfounded, historians say.) During the Second World War, Churchill saved Britain, and the world. Enough said.
Farther afield, Peter the Great, the Russian tsar with a large girth who also towered over his contemporaries, single-handedly dragged his reluctant countrymen into contact with the West. Catherine the Great, no petite figure herself, helped complete the task.
Okay, being overweight can lead to health problems. We all know that. Christie has admitted as much. Still, in a perverse way, being overweight can almost seem a protest against the political correctness of our time. I’m going to indulge my 64-ounce soda! Take that, Mayor Bloomberg!
Still, what is it about these, er, prominent figures? A society wit once quipped that you can’t be rich enough, or thin enough. (Peter Paul Rubens, the Flemish baroque painter who knew something about sensual female figures, would disagree.)
These days, thin may be de rigueur for Hollywood A-listers. But different rules apply in the world of politics.
A heavy girth lends presence. In politics, heavy often means: don’t mess with me. Gov. Christie’s weight certainly conveys that impression. It is no accident that a heavyweight is someone you take seriously.
A heavy politician is also someone we can trust. When Julius Caesar was about to be murdered, suspicion immediately fell upon Cassius, who, Shakespeare observed, had a “lean and hungry look.”
None of us is perfect, and we all struggle with all sorts of things we might consider weaknesses. When Christie, talking about his weight, tells Letterman that “sometimes periods of great success are followed by periods of great failure” – hey, we’re listening.
We all have our struggles, with weight or otherwise. Chris Christie is very human. We can relate to a guy like that.