Michelle Obama on Sesame Street: Food Politics for the Huggies' Pull-Ups Set

Sesame Workshop

Better messaging as Boba Fett?

​In The Tipping Point, Malcom Gladwell wrote of America's longest running and most beloved children's television series: "Sesame Street was built around a single, breakthrough insight: that if you can hold the attention of children, you can educate them."

As the show creaks towards its 40th anniversary season, producers have rounded up some popular humans to help keep the tiny eyes and ears of multitudes of little boys and girls primed to soak up its lessons both large and wee. We're assuming Kobe Bryant will dunk on Big Bird while the Count keeps score, Ricky Gervais will torment Oscar with uncomfortable prattle, and Eva Longoria-Parker will sit on the sidelines, well-shaded, sipping a pricy Beso cocktail -- but what, oh what, will this season's most illustrious non-furry guest contribute?

As reported yesterday, Michelle Obama will kick off the season on November 10. In her special segment, the farmer's market-fancying First Lady will draw parallels between home-grown vegetables and healthy living -- and drop some entry-level Michael Pollan. "All these seeds need to grow are sun, soil and water. If you eat these healthy foods, you're going to grow up to be big and strong, like me," Obama reportedly says -- clearly fudging some crucial genetic facts. "I know you're going to like these vegetables, because in addition to being healthy, they really taste great!"

We're happy someone in such a lofty position has made food policy a serious initiative -- especially when it comes to the Muppet demographic -- but given our intimate day-to-day trials and tribulations with a pack of charming, half house-broken 4-year-olds, and our resulting sense of their cultural predilections, we're thinking Obama, for all her fame and the respect and admiration she warrants, will more successfully sell young'uns on sprouts and shoots if she dons a Boba Fett costume or some Ariel fins.