By John W. Lillpop
After signing into law the most aggressive anti-tobacco bill in US history, President Obama has conceded that he has been unable to kick his addiction to cigarettes.
As reported, in part, at Politico.com:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0609/A_smoking_struggle.html
"The cap of an entertaining, wide-ranging press conference that included a spirited defense of the public health care option: A carefully-framed, detailed question from Obama on his smoking habit."
"You just think it's neat to ask me about my smoking," he told the reporter, before conceding that he has "fallen off the wagon sometimes."
"Am I a daily, a constant smoker? No," he said. "I don't do it in front of my kids. i don't do it in front of my family."
"Obama said he was "95% cured" and compared himself to a recovering alcoholic.
"Once you've gone down this path, it's something you continually struggle with," he said.
"It's a rare admission of personal weakness in a politician whose personal discipline has always been notable."
Perhaps Obama could gain experience, strength and hope from Bill Clinton, America's first black president.
Clinton, it will be recalled, claimed that he smoked marijuana without inhaling.
So incredulous was Clinton's claim to a nation that knew better, that he became an object of unrivaled ridicule and light-hearted humor, a presidential distinction that has followed Slick Willie for nearly twenty years.
Still, Barack Obama should at least try the "not inhaling" ploy as a means for breaking the grip of nicotine.
Moreover, because exhaling toxic smoke is not exactly consistent with Obama's image as America's first "green", but second black, president, and puts him at direct odds with Al Gore, Obama will have no option but to kick the habit permanently, 100 percent!
Go ahead, Mr. President, try not inhaling or exhaling. Do it for the children!
