Obama's Doctor: He's "Lean And Muscular With No Excess Body Fat"
The Obama camp releases a letter from his doctor detailing the health of the would-be next president...
His family history is pertinent for his mother's death from ovarian cancer and grandfather who died of prostate cancer. His own history included intermittent cigarette smoking. He has quit this practice on several occasions and is currently using Nicorette gum with success.
For some old-fashioned souls, this might prove to be a tad on the racy side...
Senator Obama's last medical checkup was on January 15, 2007; he had no complaints. He exercised regularly often jogging three miles. His diet was balanced with good intake of roughage and fluids. A complete review of systems was unremarkable. On physical examination, his blood pressure was 90/60 and pulse 60/minute. His build was lean and muscular with no excess body fat.
The conclusion...
In short, his examination showed him to be in excellent health. Senator Barack Obama is in overall good physical and mental health needed to maintain the resiliency required in the Office of President.
Full letter after the jump.
DAVID L. SCHEINER, M.D.Hyde Park Associates in Medicine, Ltd.
To Whom It May Concern:
I am David L. Scheiner, a board certified general internist licensed to practice in the State of Illinois. I am on staff at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Rush University Medical Center. I have been Senator Barack Obama's primary care physician since March 23, 1987. The following is a summary of his medical records for the past 21 years.
During that period of time, Senator Obama has been in excellent health. He has been seen regularly for medical checkups and various minor problems such as upper respiratory infections, skin rashes and minor injuries.
His family history is pertinent for his mother's death from ovarian cancer and grandfather who died of prostate cancer. His own history included intermittent cigarette smoking. He has quit this practice on several occasions and is currently using Nicorette gum with success.
Senator Obama's last medical checkup was on January 15, 2007; he had no complaints. He exercised regularly often jogging three miles. His diet was balanced with good intake of roughage and fluids. A complete review of systems was unremarkable. On physical examination, his blood pressure was 90/60 and pulse 60/minute. His build was lean and muscular with no excess body fat. His physical examination was completely normal.
Laboratory studies included triglycerides of 44(normal under 150), cholesterol 173 (normal under 200), HDL 68 (normal over 40), and LDL 96 (normal under 130). Chem 24, urinalysis and CBC were normal, PSA was 0.6, very good. An EKG was normal.
In short, his examination showed him to be in excellent health. Senator Barack Obama is in overall good physical and mental health needed to maintain the resiliency required in the Office of President.
Sincerely,
David L. Scheiner, M.D.
Obama's a Lean, Mean, Fightin' Machine!
May 29, 2008 12:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOL!
May 29, 2008 12:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
The quote is "No EXCESS body fat". You cannot survive with "no body fat".
Pretty bad jounalism to put something in quotes and leave out a word.
May 29, 2008 12:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oops, I see you fixed it before I complained. Thanks.
May 29, 2008 12:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
That makes me think of the Obama beach photo, and then I laugh.
May 29, 2008 12:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
He's a Lean, Mean, Republican-trashing Machine.
May 29, 2008 12:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
:-)
May 29, 2008 12:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I could have you told you that!
May 29, 2008 12:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
He's "Lean And Muscular With No Excess Body Fat"
HOT HOT HOT>.... wow..... SOUNDS GOOD:)
May 29, 2008 12:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
You may be a Hillary supporter, but you're still a woman.
May 29, 2008 12:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
You sure about that?
May 29, 2008 2:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now we know you've been fooling us all this time!
May 29, 2008 12:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
you've had "a crush on Obama" all along!
May 29, 2008 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'll assume you've seen this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJsdHoAy4aM
The women in the back are yelling, "Move! Move! Move!" I'll assume there was something going on in the front that they wanted to see...
May 29, 2008 3:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thatvideo looks like it was shopped the way they have him turning like a top...not sure that is even Obama.
May 29, 2008 3:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, the women on the plane were asking him to model for them. I originally found the link via Suzanne Malveaux at CNN. According to her, Obama was wearing blue jeans and the female reporters were freaking out.
May 29, 2008 4:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
hmmmmmmmmmmm,
delicious...I'll take Malveaux's word for it..lol
May 29, 2008 6:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, hey, hey! You're talking about the future President of the United States of America!
May 29, 2008 8:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
*I think I'm in love!*
:)
May 29, 2008 12:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
That line is very funny.
May 29, 2008 12:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
John McCain sounds like he's 150 by comparison.
hehehehe
May 29, 2008 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
I personally found the line about "roughage" humorous.
But it's probably EXCELLENT NEWS!! for ARUGULA!!!
May 29, 2008 1:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Man, if his blood pressure were any lower, he'd be comatose! Talk about cool under pressure.
May 29, 2008 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
That looks like an error, probably a typo..especially based on his height alone.
May 29, 2008 3:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
No excesss body fat?
That's more unamerican than not wearing a flag pin! Fox News will go crazy over this revelation!
May 29, 2008 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
haha!
May 29, 2008 12:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
rotflmao
May 29, 2008 12:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Roughage and fluids are racy?!?!
After the intro, I expected so much more!
May 29, 2008 12:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
but... but.... precious bodily fluids!
May 29, 2008 12:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
haha, its the commies trying to steal our precious bodily fluids! This proves it, Obama is a commie infiltrator!! :P
May 29, 2008 12:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Hmmm. Maybe some Kennedy-minded Obama press official wrote in that last line? The conclusion..."
Greg Sargent
What are you basing your comment on. You do consider yourself to be a journalist, don't you?
May 29, 2008 12:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Christ, Liam. it was a goddamn joke. And I took it out anyway -- because I figured people would take it seriously. And I guess I was right.
May 29, 2008 12:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
So when do we get to see you make some of your so called jokes at the expense of the McCain and Clinton campaigns? Who do you think you are fooling.
May 29, 2008 12:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
wow
just
wow
May 29, 2008 1:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Leave Greg Alone!
May 29, 2008 1:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
I had this whole defense-of-Greg post written up and TPM kept giving me errors when I tried to post it.
That'll teach you guys to fix your comment problems.
May 29, 2008 1:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
I second every last word of this. Same post, same error problems.
TPM? Your comment system is still screwed up!!!
May 29, 2008 1:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Look Greg:
The person who is going to be the Democratic nominee for President of USA releases his Doctor's medical report on the state of his health, and you decide to sneak in a comment that suggested that perhaps one of Senator Obama's writers actually wrote part of it, instead of the doctor. I asked you for proof, and you came back with the lame claim of that it was a joke. If it was, it sure was a very weak one, and even then, why did you think that such a joke was appropriate to insert into the medical report?
You are the one who actually did it, not me, so all your Wow Wow utterances are about as convincing as someone saying well Woop-De-Doo.
May 29, 2008 1:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Everybody calm down . . . let's hug it out . . .
May 29, 2008 1:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dude, get a grip.
May 29, 2008 2:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Liam,
You are dead on. It was a definite error in judgement and unprofessional to write in some 'joke' about the medical report of a presidential nominee and then attribute it to his writers'..sounds pretty deceitful.
It was not a joke in the sense the sense of it being questionable professionalism on Sargents part.
Thanks for reminding Sargent of the baseline standards we expect when he is report on news such as a candidates health and well being.
May 29, 2008 3:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh for God's sake, it was funny. It's strange to read someone else's medical report, and I had many similar thoughts. It was a silly comment. BFD.
At this point, some of you hate Greg more than you hate Hillary. Get a life, guys.
May 29, 2008 9:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't mean this in a sexist way at all, but word on the street is that Hillary has been packing on the pounds. An authoritative source told me it was going straight to her ass.
Just for comparison sake. I don't think her weight or the weight of any candidate, unless they are obese and it is a health issue, should be a campaign issue. There are thousands of reasons I don't support Hillary, none of which are her fat ass.
May 29, 2008 12:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, and none of those reasons are her gender either. Just to cover my bases.
May 29, 2008 12:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Senator Clinton does not look obese to me, for a person of her age. I wish that more Americans were in as good a shape as she is. She can not help the figure that she was born with.
May 29, 2008 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
No no, I didn't say she was obese, I just said that I heard she has been gaining weight over the primary season.
Could be all those beers she has been knocking back to show that she is just one of the locals ;)
May 29, 2008 12:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Personally, I've never seen a baby with a butt that big.
May 29, 2008 3:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
C'mon Lux, there's no need to go there.
May 29, 2008 12:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
I couldn't care less if Hillary is developing a fat ass. If anything that would make her demographically closer to me and my fat ass. ...I'm far more concerned about her fat head, and how to get the idea through it that she is losing.
May 29, 2008 1:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, the fat between her ears is what concerns me the most, as it seems to be getting in the way of cognitive function. The rest of her body doesn't concern me the least.
May 29, 2008 1:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Lux,
Do you even know what the definition of OBESE is?
It is only 10% over normal body weight...in other words...Hillary IS Obese.
After Obese comes grossly obese and then morbidly obese...I think it is safe to say that HRC is Grossly OBese.
May 29, 2008 3:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Apparently my original response got lost...hmm...
Anyway, I didn't mean any offense, or to pick on her, I was just making a comparison, the guy is a machine, I don't know how he works out every day while keeping up his grueling schedule, it is amazing, especially for someone nearing 50.
Hell, maybe all the running around he does keeps him in shape, and maybe Hillary just isn't pushed as much because she has Bill to cover half the ground for her.
And for the sake of fairness, I'm sure McCain has a wrinkly ass, possibly with "HATE" tattooed on it.
May 29, 2008 1:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
In fairness, she could pack on plenty of additional pounds and she still wouldn't be as fat as Bill was prior to his heart surgery or as Al Gore is today.
May 29, 2008 2:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Al Gore is not fat, he is just jolly.
A jolly green giant.
Ho ho ho.
May 29, 2008 2:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Who gives a shit?
May 29, 2008 2:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Do you even know what the definition of OBESE is?
It is only 10% over normal body weight...in other words...Hillary is OBESE.
May 29, 2008 3:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
There has not been one minute of my life where I could be described as having no excess body fat. I'll try not to nurse this little resentment of Obama the way MoDo does in her hateful gaze of his beauty and litheness.
May 29, 2008 12:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
MoDo is just plain weird. Her last column was a joke. One in a never-ending series of ridiculous commentary. She should be embarassed about what she's revealing about herself to the general public.
May 29, 2008 12:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
Dowd can be a bit catty at times, but overall I find her very funny and appreciate her willingness to call out Clinton on her ruthlessness and hypocrisy. Her basic take over the last few months, with all that "Obambi" talk, was that Obama had to fight back harder against Clinton's attacks, and she was right. I think she has a very astute understanding of human nature.
She's at her best when she's taking on Bush. Her column after the Mark Foley affair in 2006, with all the Bushies IM'ing each other, was one of the funniest things I've ever read.
May 29, 2008 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think her frequent attempts at reducing the candidates to a bunch of squabbling junior high students is strange, and reveals an odd perspective.
I found the "Obambi" stuff offensive, just like the phrase "Breck Girl" for John Edwards. Dowd seems obsessed with "manliness" in men. What's with that, anyway?
For me, her columns don't reveal interesting insights about politics, or the politicians engaged in those politics. They reveal the workings of a mind that seems a little, well, immature and underdeveloped.
May 29, 2008 1:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
CT Voter,
I think I understand your point, and respect it.
FWIW, I find Clinton's behavior the last few months to be quite "junior high" and "immature." I've not seen the movie "Election" but several others on this list have made the Tracy Flick comparison. So Dowd is not alone in this view.
May 29, 2008 1:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, Bella was always a bit zaftig. Which didn't prevent her (or Barbara Mikulski for that matter) from being great elected officials.
May 29, 2008 2:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've obviously been living in Europe too long. Anything "racy" in that report just flew right by me...
May 29, 2008 12:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Took another day off because he is lazy and Clinton out worked him.
Check his spine to see why he is scared to go to Iraq and Afghanistan like Clinton.
May 29, 2008 12:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
gotalife has HUGE potential as a parody. i'm laughing more and more at it's remarks. just pretend it's a simulacrum of a Clinton supporter, and it's hilarious.
May 29, 2008 12:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Is throwing back beers at a PR bar really "working"?
May 29, 2008 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
...he's not?
May 29, 2008 2:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
er, the above post was supposed to go beneath Blackstar's post.
May 29, 2008 2:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
What do you mean, pretend?
May 29, 2008 8:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Check your shorts, Gotalife....Like you, I think they may be full of shit.
May 29, 2008 12:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
heh
May 29, 2008 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yah, he's never been to Iraq or traveled anywhere really except to Starbucks on the West Coast.
He'd be the most un-traveled President ever!
May 29, 2008 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
er, that was a joke, right?
May 29, 2008 1:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
As the Real Gotalife - it's important that I SPEAK OUT AGAINST EXERCISE.
Never done in my life. No complaints!
May 29, 2008 1:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's very hard to relate to a man who has no body fat.
May 29, 2008 12:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is much harder to relate to a complete fat head like Otto the Racist Scumbag, Aryan Nation Troll, who claims he still listens to Rhandi Rhodes, on Air America, long after she was taken of the air.
May 29, 2008 12:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
By doing this, liam, you do realize you're giving Otto F exactly what he wants?
May 29, 2008 2:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
Liam, is there anything that doesn't set you off?
May 29, 2008 9:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
No EXCESS body fat. You're not reading for comprehension, are you.
May 29, 2008 12:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is why I always wear my "Obama Smiling" (in a black T-shirt) hoodie sweatshirt from CafeExpress.com where ever I go. Ah, Barack!
May 29, 2008 12:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Um, I know that medical reports are important, and I'm delighted to learn that Obama is lean and muscular with no excess body fat (like, duh, I can see that with my own eyes), but there are some things I just don't want to know about presidential candidates.
Like that someone's intake of roughage is sufficients. Or that someone had a colonscopy. Maybe I'm old-fashioned. Or squeamish. Or have too vivid of an imagination, but I just don't want to know certain things about the people running for President.
And Clinton looks fine. TV packs on, what, 20 pounds?
Which means Obama must be really skinny in person.
May 29, 2008 12:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, it could be worse. The colonoscopy could end up on YouTube.
May 29, 2008 1:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOL!
That thought didn't even occur to me. By comparison, these medical reports are downright tame.
May 29, 2008 1:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Or the Today Show.
May 29, 2008 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Anyone over 50 should have a colonoscopy.
I've had two so far. They're so much fun. Let me tell you all about it. First, take an afternoon off and ingest a few different sorts of laxatives...
May 29, 2008 1:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for the images I didn't need....
;=)
May 29, 2008 1:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
What's the point in releasing this information? I haven't heard any clamoring for Obama's medical records, so I assume it's meant in contrast to McCain's medical history?
May 29, 2008 12:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
If I had a doctor say in writing that I had no excess body fat, I'd fucking drop that shit from planes.
May 29, 2008 12:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'd have it printed on my business cards, right underneath my name.
May 29, 2008 1:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
LOL. If anyone said that about me, I too would be hiring a skywriter STAT.
Glad to hear that there's a good health report for President Hottie.
May 29, 2008 1:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't think the point is to say "man, our candidate would kick your candidate's ass in a foot race." It's just a matter of appearing transparent. Had he never released his medical records, someone would pick up on that and say "What's he trying to hide, blah blah, I demand he release them, blah blah, quick someone put a countdown on our website since the last time we saw medical records from him, etc." If it's good news, why not just release it? I assume this is standard etiquette for presidential candidates anyhow.
May 29, 2008 1:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Doctor went on to add that Obama looked really great in a Speedo swimsuit.
May 29, 2008 12:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Are Obama's doctors "Ace & Gary" from Robert Smigel's SNL cartoon???
OBAMA '08!!
May 29, 2008 1:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
90 over 60??!?!?! The guy's going to live forever!
May 29, 2008 1:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
This just in! McCain's medical reports neglect to include tissue scarring from his days of battle in The Crusades!
"He's got my vote," says McCain friend and supporter Vlad The Impaler. "McCain '08....what century is it now??"
May 29, 2008 1:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
As the Real Gotalife - I am confused with how excess body fat could be a bad thing.
May 29, 2008 1:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
While we are on the subject of John McCain:
A lot of people offer up Senator McCain's Mother being still alive as proof that Senator McCain is going to live into his nineties. That sounds like a big assumption on there part, just to justify electing a 72 year old man to the presidency.
What if he has inherited his father's life expectancy genes, and not his mother's? That would mean that he is actually living on borrowed time, and is due to die any day now.
His father died when he was 70.
John Sidney McCain Jr. (January 17, 1911 – March 22, 1981) was a four star admiral in the United States Navy who served in World War II through the Vietnam War.
May 29, 2008 1:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Has Senator Clinton released her medical reports. I am just curious!!!
May 29, 2008 1:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
BP of 90/60---that explains his uncanny calmness!
May 29, 2008 1:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
"No body fat"...at least it's less inaccurate than Jeffrey Toobin's description of Roger Stone having "a bodybuilder's physique," in this week's New Yorker. A full page, turn-your-face-away-after-a-glance photo of Stone shirtless on the following page disproves the assertion utterly. Who knew reptiles could lift weights?
Are we experiencing some strange collective body image dysmorphia?
May 29, 2008 1:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
We should just let the medical records run against each other. That would be fun.
May 29, 2008 2:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
god you guys sound so gay!
May 29, 2008 2:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe he'll be able to beat Putin at an arm-wrestling contest.
May 29, 2008 2:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah! Looking into his soul is for wimps! ;-)
May 29, 2008 4:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
90 over 60 is damned near freakish. I had mine checked two weeks ago and it was 110 over 70.
And Barack is 15 years older than me?
May 29, 2008 2:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh yeah, his blood pressure may be low, but what's his sperm count? How does that compare to McCain? Or Hillary?
May 29, 2008 2:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Who cared about Shrillary's medical records - why hasn't the right wing nutjubs gone asked her about where her friggin' flag lapel pin is??
Oh wait, she's been irrelevant in this race for the last few months. MY BAD!
Obama '08!!
May 29, 2008 3:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Heh. And to think all these years I've viewed self as being a tall, lanky, skinny fuck. Who knew my body type would one day be viewed as Presidential??
May 29, 2008 3:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
lol lol
May 29, 2008 6:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes but do you have an IQ of 168 (as has been reported of Obama).
May 29, 2008 9:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ya suppose the fact that Hillary has not released her health record is de facto admission that it's all over and it won't matter if she is not reported as being "lean and muscular"?
May 29, 2008 9:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
I suppose all the Obama supporters will relish all this one page Dr.'s report as the all new encomapssing transparency Obama demands while McCain releases hundreds and hundreds of the actual documents and the level of openenss will be declared equal.
This is nothing more than nothing really when you consider it goes back to before Jan. 2007. He might as well not even have bothered. Could he not even have ensured it was 2 pages at least
Now go ahead and rant because I am not relishing in this lean mean machine you all adore and find this excuse for a medical report as nothing more than a show of disrespect for his own standards that he sets for everyone else.
May 29, 2008 10:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have spent the last two years of my life living on an island in the west indies where the average 60-70 year old man puts Obama to shame. Now I live in Colorado, supposedly the fittest state in the union, and everyone still looks soft and mushy to me.
As pathetic as is sounds, look for Barack to pack on some added heft to counter the backlash wrought by "the average American" voter who just can't relate to a man in his late forties without a paunch.
May 29, 2008 11:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Lean and muscular? Oh, be still my beating heart!
I'm sure that appeals to all the women and latent homosexual men out there among his supporters, who ironically enjoy calling themselves "issues" voters.
But I am glad to hear he gets enough roughage. That's the first thing I always ask myself about any candidate running for office. Sometimes he looks a little constipated, like when ABC
May 30, 2008 9:07 AM | Reply | Permalink