I was reading some reviews of the popular movie "The Heat" with Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy and it occurred to me that this little movie and the reaction to it may help explain my concern about the ability of otherwise intelligent elected officials to get together on what should be normal, routine pieces of business.

Some critics have gone out of their way to attack Ms. McCarthy as a tractor sized stereotype, the implication being that she is fat, unhealthy and apparently, increasingly unfunny. Others have been offended by the studio airbrushing of the advertising poster to make her appear slimmer and therefore, for some people, more attractive. They feel that she should be allowed to celebrate both the size of her body and her Hollywood contracts. The idea here is that we should accept people for who they are regardless of how they look or how they take care of themselves.

The most fascinating thing about this to me is the level of vitriol now floating around the social media world as if this were some sort of major international incident needing intervention by the UN or the World Court. What if we just applied a little common sense from the middleground and offered the following points to all concerned:

1. By all accounts, Ms. McCarthy is a talented comedian. Her TV show is doing well and she has a growing reputation as a writer and a slapstick performer in movies. More power to her. Time will tell if it lasts.

2. Hollywood is famous for air brushing. This is not even the worst example. After all, they have given Kate Hudson breasts that Marilyn Monroe would have displayed with pride. I don't like it, but I certainly have more important things to think about, like where would I like to go for lunch today. When did the poster become more important than the movie? Well, of course, it didn't except for those who just have too much time on their hands or find political significance in absolutely everything or actually allow their lives to be driven by the celebrity issue of the day.

3. If Ms. McCarthy is happy in her own skin right now, which she claims to be, I wish her all the best. I might also whisper in her ear: Make sure you get regular medical check-ups. It is common knowledge, regardless of what the "just be yourself" movement maintains, that as you get larger and older bad things may begin to happen that threaten your health and could shorten the time you have with those lovely children and perhaps later, their children. Maybe you are one of the lucky ones with an incredibly strong gene pool. I hope so. But, just in case, I also hope the people who love you keep track of your blood pressure.

4. But honestly, folks, in a world where 19 firefighters died in a wildfire, a Korean jet crash landed in San Francisco and the Texas legislature just sent the Governor new restrictions on abortion, do we really need to focus on poor Ms. McCarthy's waistline? Does she need our help or advice about anything at all?

5. The real point being this: If this is the kind of thing that can distract us and, more importantly, divide us, then I guess I should not be surprised that political leaders are arguing so vehemently about subjects that used to be handled more routinely. Of course we should debate vigorously about abortion or gun control. But we now seem to expend way too much energy on minor subjects like insignificant government appointments, as though the assistant deputy director for international nutrition is equal to the Secretary of State. If you want the Administration to take your issues seriously then you need to learn the difference between a legitimate moral or legal principle and normal business. In the old days we pretty much let the President have his appointments and, even if we disagreed about the budget, we managed to pass one without holding half the country hostage. Why? Because we knew that the people wanted their country to function effectively, that cooperating was not a sign of weakness and that, eventually, when we finally had to tackle the big issues, we had a better chance of finding acceptable solutions to them because we hadn't wasted all our political capital on things that just didn't matter.

I fully realize that with the reach of modern technology giving us more information than we need on almost every thing and the current tendency of most of the members of Congress to confuse obstinacy with integrity, that I may have to wait awhile for the American people to replace these turkeys with regular citizens who know how to get things done. In the meantime, I will weigh in from time to time to try and help move things along. At the moment, though, I am on my way to a local theater to see "The Heat". The poster and Ms. McCarthy aside, if 78% of the people really like it as much as reported, I will at least experience a couple of hours of good old fashioned consensus.