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U.S. first lady Michelle Obama smiles as she walks to the West Front of the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 21,2013, for President Barack Obama's ceremonial swearing-in ceremony during the 57th presidential inauguration.Molly Riley/The Associated Press

While President Obama struggles to justify drone airstrikes against Americans accused of being al-Qaeda operatives, his wife is busy fending off rear attacks.

The target, once again, is her attention-grabbing posterior.

After referring to the first lady as "fat butt Michelle Obama," Alabama high-school psychology teacher Bob Grisham has been suspended for 10 days without pay, Today News reports. A student recorded a diatribe by Grisham in his class at Lauderdale County High School. The rant included offensive remarks about gays.

Grisham was ordered on Monday to take sensitivity training, and removed from teaching duties for the rest of the school year. In addition, he is required to meet monthly with the school system's personnel director.

"We are profoundly disappointed in the actions and statements of Mr. Grisham," Lauderdale County superintendent Jennifer Gray said in a statement.

Grisham made the derogatory remarks during a class debate on Jan. 27. He complained about the school's low-calorie lunch menu, saying it was due to "fat butt Michelle Obama," and added, "look at her. She looks like she weighs 185 or 190. She's overweight."

No matter that Michelle Obama is nearly six feet tall and has a shapely, statuesque figure that most women can only dream of.

Bob Harper, personal trainer on the reality show The Biggest Loser, has only good things to say about Obama's physique. "She is so strong and she's so fit," he said in a video describing his White House workout session with her last spring.

But somehow, Conservatives – especially portly, old white men – fail to appreciate her assets. Radio host Rush Limbaugh has called her Michelle "My Butt" Obama. In 2011, Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner was overheard telling a woman in an airport lounge that Obama "lectures us on eating right while she has a large posterior herself." (He later sent a personal note to the first lady to apologize.)

The Conservative attacks directed at Obama's backside are undoubtedly offensive, but as Maclean's writer Jaime Weinman pointed out, they are proof that she has made waves with her Let's Move initiative and other public-health campaigns.

"Laura Bush was mostly ignored, even by her husband's foes, but loving or hating Michelle Obama may be turning into a political litmus test," Weinman wrote.

No butts about that.

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