Michelle Obama Builds Monument to Herself

First lady Michelle Obama made herself the object of ridicule for reinforcing with concrete and steel the massive garden she’s had constructed at the White House.

Obama on Wednesday unveiled a bigger version of the garden she established on the White House grounds. Workers used concrete, stone, and steel to make the garden a more permanent feature on the South Lawn, according to Politico. The Burpee Foundation and the Atlee Burpee Co., a leading seed and garden supply company, contributed $2.5 million to help maintain and preserve the garden.

“We’ll have a small garden … We’re focused on creating jobs for the American people.”

“I take great pride in knowing that this little garden will live on as a symbol of the hopes and dreams we all hold of growing a healthier nation for our children,” she said in a dedication ceremony in front of advocates, food industry leaders, and others who supported the establishment of her Let’s Move! campaign to end childhood obesity.

That campaign has produced little in results — other than raising the profile of the first lady in the media.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the childhood obesity rate in 2009 when Michelle Obama moved into the East Wing of the White House was 16.9 percent. In 2014, the last year with publicly available data from the CDC, the rate had climbed to 17.2 percent.

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LifeZette Editor-in-Chief Laura Ingraham hammered the move on “The Laura Ingraham Show” Thursday.

“It’s not meant to be an agriculture cooperative at the White House,” Ingraham said.

Politico noted that reinforcing the garden with steel and concrete would make it harder for a future president — say, Donald Trump — to tear it down. Ronald Reagan famously removed the solar panels that Jimmy Carter had installed on the White House.

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But White House officials confirmed there is nothing Obama can actually do to prevent future administrations from removing it if they want to.

“How many of you think this is about healthy eating, and how many of you think this is about the Obama legacy?” Ingraham asked. “The Obamas will be remembered at the White House in concrete and steel,” she said.

“If I’m Donald Trump, I do bulldoze it. I say, ‘We’re gonna have our flower garden. We’ll have a small garden. We’re not going to take the people’s lawn and add another cost to the federal maintenance. We’re not gonna take money from a seed company. That’s not what we’re gonna to do. We’re focused on creating jobs for the American people.'”