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Smoking Police Handcuff Obama

Posted by JERRY REMMERS, Columnist in Health, Politics.
Dec 29th, 2008 | Comments

The anti-smoking police are thrusting their will on President-Elect Barack Obama to stop smoking. We assume they mean cigarettes.

By all intents and purposes, Obama seems to be trying.

A medical report on Obama’s health quotes his physician saying Obama smokes three to five cigarettes a day. He has quit and relapsed on numerous occasions.

Three to five cigs a day? Some might call it an addiction. I call it an affliction.

There’s probably a chromosome in our genes that nicotine titillates. It releases a fleeting moment of pleasure from stress that your brain makes you think you crave.

The trick is telling your brain to shove it. I know that from smoking off and on the past 60 years.

We have heard all the arguments against smoking. Most of them are true. It’s a dirty, filthy, smelly habit unhealthy in our public domain which in many parts bans it. It’s also expensive.

The anti-smoking warriors have forced smokers outdoors in the snow, wind, rain or steamy heat. It parallels the social ostracism of gays and lesbians until they broke out of their closets in the past two generations.

In an article in Monday’s New York Times, the authors ask if Obama will honor a New Year’s resolution to quit smoking. They also wonder whether he will violate the White House’s no smoking rules.

I’m with Michael Kinsley on this subject and he’s the most gung-ho anti-smoking creature on Planet Earth. Kinsley, writing an opinion column in the Washington Post, said with two wars, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and an economy sinking far into recession, if Obama smokes an occasional cigarette to relieve the stress, then so be it.

If the worst Obama does is smoke three to five cigarettes a day, saves us from future wars and enacts policies that improve the economy, hell, I will buy him a pack of smokes.

Obama is a picture of good health. That ill-gotten front page photo in the New York Daily News of a bare-chested future president is proof.

He jogs and plays basketball daily. How many goody goody two-shoes politically-correct commentators can boast that?

Three to five cigs a day? Get a life, smoking police.

cross posted on The Remmers Report

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archangel

good humor Jerry and glad YOU are still standing too! This T.I.T. tempest in teapot is absurd. Cigars have been a staple at White House after dinner for a kajillion years, for whomever smokes them. The curious aspect of this story is 3-5 ciggies a day. I wonder how he stops at 3-5 if his body craves nicotine....and as most do, builds resistance to it

JSpencer

Well, I agree that this is a tempest in a teapot. I used to enjoy a few cigarettes a day and also worked out regularly to boot. For those who enjoy the effects of tobacco though, it's difficult to keep it at just a few, which is why I quit several years ago. If, however, Barack is able to get a little enjoyment from his 3 to 5 amid his hectic schedule, then I say more power to him.

Shard

I've smoked for close to 12 years. On the high end, I would smoke 3/4 of a pack a day. Typically, however, I smoked 3-5 cigarettes a day. These days, I smoke maybe a cigarette or less a week. About once a month or so, I'll smoke from a (tobacco) pipe for idle amusement. (My friends that smoke more often label me as a non-smoker or "pseudo-smoker".)

My body enjoys the sensation of the nicotine, but my throat prefers that I stay away from the things. As with anything else of that nature, it's a matter of self control and moderation: I've made the adult decision to enjoy them, and the equally adult decisions not to over-indulge and accept the consequences thereof. Some people prefer different paths - either to quit completely or smoke more.

As Jerry wrote, if the President of the country is able to make the country's citizens safer, more prosperous, and more healthy... who cares if he himself smokes a few cigarettes now and then? I'd rather have someone with a few minor health issues and wise decision-making at the helm than someone in perfect health but with poor decision-making skills. C'mon now.

NordicAngst

It is of no consequence if the president smokes in private, though there is some concern over more public displays displays that could repopularize the habit with young people and adversely affect national health. This doesn't seem to be the case so far however.

next

"The anti-smoking warriors have forced smokers outdoors in the snow, wind, rain or steamy heat. It parallels the social ostracism of gays and lesbians until they broke out of their closets in the past two generations."

Now is this a piece of satire or does someone really have to point out the many ways in which it is logically and offensively incorrect?

JSpencer

Good point Nordic. The drawing of a parallel between smokers and gay persons requires a major suspension of disbelief. Heck, even when I did smoke I'd never do it indoors. It's one thing to choose to put smoke in my own lungs, quite another to put smoke in the lungs of others, on the drapes, clothing, etc. I enjoyed the pleasures of tobacco as much as anyone, but it never caused me to forget how to be considerate of others around me.

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