Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Obama Smokes - Big F***in' Deal

So it's official. He admitted it in a press conference. The president smokes.

Yes, I criticized him for supporting anti-smoking legislature, calling it hypocrisy. Regardless of that -- so what?? The media is now calling it a "broken campaign promise." Give me a freakin break! It was a promise he made to his wife, not to the American people. And it's a promise every smoker makes to non-smoking loved ones.

I'll say it again: Good for you, Barack! I hope before you decide what to do about Kim Jong Il, you sit down and smoke one all the way to the filter. I also wish you would come out in favor of personal choice, and against the hypocritical war on some drugs.

Let me also say, I loved his flippant comment to a reporter who tried to press him for details about his smoking: "You just think it's neat to ask me about my smoking, as opposed to it being relevant to my new law." [Read: none of your damn business.]

I also have to agree with the LA Times who say that having a smoking habit might be good for his image, as he is seen often as "too perfect." So if he wants to talk about his "struggle to quit," all the better -- makes him more human. I'd still bet you a dollar it's more a struggle to find time, opportunity, and privacy to smoke.

As a smoker, who has quit before, I'll tell you: the last thing any smoker wants or needs -- even if they are trying to quit -- is to be constantly hounded by non-smokers, or worse, reformed smokers. It makes you want to light up right there and blow the smoke right in their face. Quitting smoking, quitting any addictive behavior, is a personal choice and requires support, not mocking admonitions and condescending reminders of how bad it is for you. The last time I quit smoking, and the most successful by a long shot (6 weeks) I didn't tell anyone. I just stopped, slapped on the patch, and if anyone noticed I wasn't smoking, I just said, "Yeah, I'm not smoking any more." No big deal, no big announcement that makes my friends hyper-conscious of it, no added attention. It worked better than 15 years of incessant harping by my grandmother, let me assure you. If people really wanted the president to quit smoking, they should just leave him alone.

Moreover, if Barack Obama wants to smoke, let him smoke. Who freakin cares? It's not a national crisis. Geez.

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