If Obama wanted to make radical changes to America’s health long-term, all he has to do is treble the price of sugar and salt.

Oliver’s remark frames diet-related illness as a policy problem rather than merely a matter of individual willpower. By pointing to sugar and salt—ubiquitous, inexpensive ingredients in processed foods—he implies that price signals and taxation could shift consumption patterns at population scale, much as tobacco taxes did. Invoking President Obama suggests the quote belongs to the era when U.S. health-care reform and obesity debates were prominent, and it positions “radical change” as achievable through upstream prevention rather than downstream medical treatment. The provocation also reflects Oliver’s broader advocacy style: using blunt, media-ready proposals to spotlight the food industry’s role in shaping public health.