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" It&amp;#039;s been a big couple of days for the pea people. That&amp;#039;s because at a White House press conference on Monday, President Obama name-checked the little green vegetables in the course of discussing negotiations about how to solve the nation&amp;#039;s debt crisis: &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s not going to get easier. It&amp;#039;s going to get harder. So we might as well do it now: pull off the Band-Aid, eat our peas. Now is the time to do it. If not now, when?&amp;quot; The pea industry is, naturally, aflutter. The USA Dry Pea &amp;amp;amp; Lentil Council has chosen to view the mention in a positive light, as a reference to the First Lady&amp;#039;s Let&amp;#039;s Move campaign, a push to get Americans to eat a more healthy diet, rather than as a reference to the food&amp;#039;s less savory reputation as a necessary evil, something to be choked down quickly for its nutritional value but never enjoyed. The pea people \u2014 they&amp;#039;re such optimists. And witty, too! They say in a statement: &amp;quot;Eating peas has two clear benefits: They can help close the nutritional loopholes in your diet, and preparation isn&amp;#039;t taxing!&amp;quot; Get it? Loopholes? Taxing?  Rimshot. The whole incident puts us in mind of that episode of The West Wing in which Charlie lets it slip to a reporter that President Bartlet doesn&amp;#039;t like green beans, which sends C.J. into a temporary panic about losing votes from green-bean farmers in Oregon. Watch Bartlet-style damage control below.      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/food-drink/a10522/obama-pea-comment-6080914/>