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The President is a Marlboro ManBy Norm Kent
I will be damned. The Prez got himself a habit !!!!
The President-Elect has a flaw and Tom Brokaw brought him out of the closet about it last Sunday on ‘Meet the Press.’
Noting that the White House was a no-smoking zone, Tom Brokaw asked the
President-Elect during a televised interview on Sunday, "Have you
stopped smoking?"
"I have," Obama replied, smiling broadly. "But there are times where I have fallen off the wagon."
I will be damned. The Prez got himself a habit !!!!
The President-Elect has a flaw and Tom Brokaw brought him out of the closet about it last Sunday on ‘Meet the Press.’
Noting that the White House was a no-smoking zone, Tom Brokaw asked the
President-Elect during a televised interview on Sunday, "Have you
stopped smoking?"
"I have," Obama replied, smiling broadly. "But there are times where I have fallen off the wagon."
"Wait a minute," Brokaw interjected, "that means you haven't stopped."
"I've done a terrific job, under the circumstances, of making myself
much healthier and I think that you will not see any violations of
these rules in the White House," Obama replied.
Earlier this year, Obama told the magazine Men's Health in an interview
for its November issue that he wished he had more time for staying fit
and that he still occasionally smoked a cigarette. Obama says he
manages to squeeze in 45-minute workouts, six days a week, but wishes
his exercise sessions were longer.
Obama said in that interview that he had bummed a cigarette a couple of
times during the campaign. "But I figure, seeing as I'm running for
president, I need to cut myself a little slack," he said.
In St. Louis last June, Obama acknowledged he was a smoker, and
admitted to “falling off the wagon” then also. Two months later, he
confessed the same thing to Chris Matthews in a Hardball interview.
Thus, I think we see the President has an ongoing Nicotine issue, and
that he has been elusive in dealing with it.
Brokaw got it right. If every few months Obama is getting asked the
question: ‘Have you stopped smoking?’ and each response candidly
acknowledges “ I have fell off the wagon” , then you got a guy still
smokin’ !
Nevertheless, the President Elect did indicate the White House was
going to remain “smoke-free.” So if he needs to sneak a smoke, where
does he go- for a secret walk along Pennsylvania Avenue? Mr. Obama is
learning what many Americans have: that quitting is not easy.
Mr. Obama told Chris Matthews as much: “It is a struggle like
everything else. And I think that it is important to just keep in mind…
I want to set a good example for all these young people here, and I
want to make sure as President of the United States, everybody knows
that I’m going to try to stay healthy.”
Over the summer, Obama’s doctor shared with reporters that the
President-Elect has a history of “intermittent cigarette smoking, but
he quit this practice on several occasions and is currently using
Nicorette gum with success.”
Last year, Fox News TV Host John Gibson called Obama’s smoking his
“dirty little secret.” I guess that is the best they could come up with
to dish out dirt on the prospective president. Still, it was never
really a secret Mr. Obama actually hid. It was known in Illinois, where
he served as a United States Senator prior to his election. Michele
Obama even discussed ‘the bad habit’ on 60 Minutes.
As early as 2004 during his Senate campaign, Obama had told the Chicago
Sun-Times his smoking is "an ongoing battle." His wife told reporters
then that he smokes "about three Marlboros a day."
Today, the President Elect offers this advice to smokers: “If you want
to quit, then eliminate certain key connections – that first cigarette
in the morning, or after a meal, or with a drink,” Obama said last
month.
I have been trying to get my partner to stop smoking for about seven
years. Every time we start to go into a deep kiss, I think I am
inhaling stale cigarettes from a garbage can. It inhibits passion in
our relationship. So here I am in the middle of this article, and I
tell him to come here and read it. He does, and then says, as it is one
in the morning, “I am going outside to smoke a cigarette and go
upstairs to bed.” Well, at least my house is also a no smoking zone.
Every year in November the American Cancer Society conducts a ‘Great
American Smokeout,’ urging smokers to commit to quit. Last month my
partner John promised to show. Conveniently, he found a way not to go.
They even offer follow up classes. But somehow Georgie keeps offering
an Alibi and the Marlboros keep getting smoked. It looks to me like
Barack could pair up with my partner. They each have a recurring issue
when it comes to smoking.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United
States. Cigarette smoking causes an estimated 438,000 deaths each year,
including thousands from secondhand smoke exposure. I don’t want to be
one of them, and I don’t want my partner or my President to be one
either.
As I reported years ago in the Express Gay News, gays and lesbians
smoke at a staggeringly higher rate than similarly situated straight
men and women. Younger gays are even worse. We light up younger and
continue longer and kill ourselves sooner.
“There's a theory that smoking truly is a part of gay identity, whether
that be a prop for a drag queen or a cigar for a woman who's part of
the Women's Motorcycle Contingent," said Bob Gordon, director of the
California LGBT Tobacco Education Partnership in San Francisco.
In any case, it is not healthy. It’s got to end. Maybe the message will
start with our new President. I hope it will reach my bedroom.
C
I can't help but remember your protestations about quitting before you quit.