If we replace Christie's "fatness" with any other physical trait - hair color, eye color or race - we immediately see the problem. If someone were to suggest that a person couldn't lead because he or she was lazy or undisciplined because of his race there would be outrage. That outrage would be rightly justified. Yet not very many people seem to be outraged by the conversation surrounding Gov. Christie and his girth.

I know what some of you are thinking: race is different. Weight is volitional. Christie can lose weight.

This is yet another outdated understanding of weight. While it might be convenient to assume that everyone can lose weight and keep it off, recent reports from mainstream medical journals confirm what large people and movements such as Health at Every Size have been saying for years: not everyone can lose weight - and most people who do lose weight don't keep it off long term, in part because the body fights against it.

Even if weight were volitional, most of us don't tolerate discriminating against people based on other volitional traits - such as religion.

When Mitt Romney's identity as a Mormon was brought up as a reason he shouldn't be president, many people came to his defense because, as a society, we long ago decided not to discriminate based on a person's choice of religion.