Michelle Obama Is No Barbie Doll

The First Lady, who has been promoting healthy diets for Americans, has misspoken herself into, of all things, a grease pit of controversy and even worse just before Super Bowl Sunday in Texas, where barbecue is sacred.

In her memo to supporters announcing next year's Democratic convention in Charlotte, Mrs. Obama praises the city's many virtues, adding "And of course great barbecue." This prompts the local North Carolina newspaper to respond "Charlotte=great barbecue? Who knew?"

For Northerners, this is tantamount to citing Jersey City for French cuisine, and the timing couldn't be worse.

As football worshippers arrive at a de-iced Arlington Stadium, they will be only a three-hour drive (a Lone Star hop, skip and jump) from Snow's in Lexington, which Texas Monthly cites as the best in the state--and therefore the world (the UK's Guardian lists the place in "The 50 best things to eat in the world, and where to eat them")--prompting the New Yorker's guru of grease Calvin Trillin to visit and ratify the choice.

The only problem for football fans is that the establishment, run by a former rodeo clown and a lady named Tootsie, is open only from 8 to noon on Saturdays, creating slight timing and digestive problems that could only be solved by staying up and drinking all Friday night.

The prospect of all this might well turn the First Lady into a total vegetarian. In telling supporters about the Charlotte convention, Mrs. Obama noted that "the table we sit at together ought to be big enough for everyone."

But sitting there at breakfast time sopping up fat with packaged white bread is not likely to be what she had in mind.