Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

homestead - [Homestead] BO and his Menthol Kools

homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Homestead mailing list

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Homestead] BO and his Menthol Kools
  • Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:51:39 -0800 (PST)

>From todays NYT and Wash. Post. Let the man have his smokes . We don't
>really want him nervous and fidgity, is the refrain.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

November 20, 2008, 9:23 am
Obama’s Smoking Cure?
By Chris Suellentrop
Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em, Barack: Michelle Obama asked Barack Obama to quit
smoking when he began running for president. But now that Obama is actually
going to be the president, everyone should give him permission to start
smoking again, Michael Kinsley writes on the op-ed page of The Washington
Post.

“Smoking is a disgusting habit that can kill you and those around you,”
Kinsley concedes. But at the same time, he writes, “Obama’s good habits
outweigh this single bad one.” He also writes:

Obama is 47. A recent Journal of the National Cancer Institute study
determined that 49 out of 1,000 American male former smokers age 45 (close
enough) will die of all causes over the next decade, compared with 91 out of
1,000 who are still smoking. If he is still smoking, Obama is doubling his
chance of an early death. Of course, he increases that risk by becoming
president as well. But we allow candidates to take that second risk. Whether
he takes the first one is his business, too.

Another question is what effect a president desperate for a cigarette and
trying to quit might have on your life expectancy and mine. Obama’s steely
calm is now one of our country’s major assets. If he needs an occasional
cigarette to preserve it, let’s hand him an ashtray, offer him a light and
look the other way.

************************************************8

Wash Post, article:


Let the Guy Smoke


Obama Is Probably Fibbing About Giving Up Cigarettes. That's Okay.



By Michael Kinsley
Thursday, November 20, 2008; Page A23

It is still okay to discriminate against one group of Americans. This
discrimination is not only legal, it is encouraged. You see members of this
oppressed minority huddled outside in rain and snow, forbidden to seek
refuge. No one feels sorry for them. And yet we may have just elected one of
these pariahs as president.

Let the Guy Smoke

Smoking is a disgusting habit that can kill you and those around you. Barack
Obama claims to have quit, but the evidence is ambiguous. And the media's
lack of interest in this question supports the charge that Obama is enjoying
a honeymoon with the press. Compare the attention given to John McCain's
melanoma -- a health problem more likely than smoking to kill him in the next
four years, but also a problem beyond his control. Smoking, by contrast, is
behavior. It sets a deplorable example for young people, millions of whom
Obama has inspired into active citizenship.

Obama has never denied that he was a smoker for much of his adult life. He
said as early as February 2007 that he had promised his wife he would quit in
order to run for president. He also admitted as recently as this June -- when
his presidential campaign was about three-quarters over -- that he hadn't
done so. In May the Obama campaign released a carefully worded letter from
his doctor, who wrote that Obama's "own history included intermittent
cigarette smoking. He has quit this practice on several occasions and is
currently using Nicorette gum with success." Obama has declined to amplify.


The instructions on Nicorette say to stop smoking before starting with the
gum and to stop using the gum after 12 weeks. We know, because he has said as
much, that Obama was still smoking the month after his doctor said he was
using the gum. And even if he smoked his last cigarette on May 28, the day
before his doctor said he was on gum therapy, the 12 weeks would have elapsed
Aug. 20. Wouldn't you think that some reporter since then would have asked
Obama whether the gum had worked? Yet no one seems to have asked.

According to Nicorette's Web site, the gum "can more than double your chances
of quitting versus just willpower alone." Those chances are less than one in
20. Double that is one in 10. Obama is a man of impressive determination and
self-discipline, as we are learning. But it would be astonishing if he
managed to beat these odds during the past high-stress summer.

Now, I have been enjoying Obama euphoria as much as anyone. Without it, the
prospect would be depressing indeed. But where is the skepticism? If Obama
actually has accomplished the miracle of giving up cigarettes at the apogee
of a presidential race, he should be happy to let us know this and add to his
superman image. And if he hasn't? Well, if he is straight with us about it,
we should forgive him. So he's not a superman. Neither are we. In a
democracy, that is a good thing for ruler and ruled to know they have in
common. Furthermore, as presidential vices go, this one is not near the top.
As for being a role model for youths, Obama's good habits outweigh this
single bad one. He's great on hydration, apparently.

Obama is 47. A recent Journal of the National Cancer Institute study
determined that 49 out of 1,000 American male former smokers age 45 (close
enough) will die of all causes over the next decade, compared with 91 out of
1,000 who are still smoking. If he is still smoking, Obama is doubling his
chance of an early death. Of course, he increases that risk by becoming
president as well. But we allow candidates to take that second risk. Whether
he takes the first one is his business, too.

Another question is what effect a president desperate for a cigarette and
trying to quit might have on your life expectancy and mine. Obama's steely
calm is now one of our country's major assets. If he needs an occasional
cigarette to preserve it, let's hand him an ashtray, offer him a light and
look the other way.

Michael Kinsley, a columnist for Time magazine, is an occasional contributor
to The Post.









Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page