Obama says he won't be smoking in White House

[onehandle]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In a country where cigarettes are responsible for one in five deaths and smoking costs tens of billions of dollars in health care, Obama has been under pressure to set an example by giving up his reported two-decade-old habit.

Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" program, interviewer Tom Brokaw told Obama he had ducked answering the question during an interview last month with ABC's Barbara Walters.

Noting that the White House was a no-smoking zone, Brokaw asked Obama, "Have you stopped smoking?" "I have," Obama replied, smiling broadly. "What I said was that there are times where I have fallen off the wagon."

"Wait a minute," Brokaw interjected, "that means you haven't stopped." "Fair enough," Obama said. "What I would say is that I have done a terrific job under the circumstances of making myself much healthier. You will not see any violations of these rules in the White House."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081207/pl_nm/us_usa_obama_smoking

[mac56]

1. Good for him

(a) for trying to quit during what has to be the most stressful time in his life and

(b) for giving Brokaw a straightforward, no-BS answer.

Now, how come no interviewer ever nailed * on how well he "stayed on his wagon"? Choked on a pretzel, anyone?

[HeeBGBz]

2. Damn, Obama will have to sit on the porch to smoke

Good luck to him trying to quit. Especially under such stress.

[sofa king]

13. He can always sneak out on the roof, like Willie Nelson.

And there's like twenty levels of underground floors and tunnels. Perhaps that's an exaggeration.

[Kolesar]

17. Now, "with Willie Nelson" would be real cool ... eom

[stlsaxman]

3. Time to bring the presidential ashtrays out of storage.

Hey- quitting is fucking tough- let's give the guy a break.

[rucognizant]

4. I am soooooo sick of this!

How many Millions of dolars are spent on diabetes, which DOESN"t kill right away but just drains the health care bank!
I BET no one has even done a survey! And unlike smoking which is really more under the individuals control, HFCS is in almost EVERYTHING we eat.,Is EVERYONE TO START MAKING THEIR OWN BREAD? Cause you can barely buy commercial bread with out it.
I see around me a LOT of ( younger) people who can't seem to get through life with out Tylenol..............I have lived for 69 years with out it, and raised 2 kids...............
As a( healthy) smoker of 46 years, I would feel more confidant of Obama's ability to govern, without his struggling with giving up ciagarettes which is a FULLTIME MENTAL OCCUPATION, DISTRACTION! Been there done it several times won't do it again!
My Mother stopped at age 64, when she worked for Blue Cross Blue SHield. Because it was a health organization, they carried the ball for her......but she confessed to being TOTALLY USELESS ON THE JOB for fully a month.
Do we want Obama to be useless on the job for the first 100 days? I don't think so.
Fear of smoking comes from the same place as fear of terrorism!

[Catch22Dem]

6. What's a "healthy smoker"?

Sorry, no such beast. He needs to quit.

[trof]

14. But I AM such a beast.

I smoke.
I'm in excellent health.
So there.
;-)

[Rebubula]

21. Sorry...

...if you smoke, you are not in excellent health. It is simply unpossible. You may be not be obese, short of breath or dying - but you are not in excellent health.

[calmblueocean]

23. Tell that to these guys. Many Olympic athletes smoke.

I'm not defending smoking as a great lifestyle choice, but the notion that there are no smokers in excellent health just isn't true. Half the Chinese athletes smoke like chimneys.

Here's just one article highlighting smokers who are, in most respects, healthier than most nonsmokers:
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he.0804.smoking-pg,0,6941219.photogallery

[trof]

24. And you got your medical degree where?

:rofl:

[Rebubula]

25. I guess...

...same place as yours.

I agree...I speak as a layman.

You (and the Chinese athletes) may be physically fit and show no signs of problems. As you said...I am no doctor. However, I do have a nose...and smokers smell bad. Smokers (not necessarily YOU in particular - you may go to lengths to alleviate the problem ) stink of stale smoke and usually everything they wear has a faint odor of smoke.

No amount of laughing smilies can get rid of that odor of a smoker when they come back into the office after a smoke break.

Not trying to bash you...I have my own little predilections that irritate others.

[Demit]

32. You back off from the health claim, but segue right into your own personal aesthetics.

Methinks you just enjoy expressing lofty disdain for people who don't do what you do, or do things you don't do. What lengths do you go to to alleviate your self-righteousness? Or do you always have the faint odor of it?

[eowyn_of_rohan]

41. they "smell bad"? the truth comes out. Learn tolerance. You probably reek.

[Tansy_Gold]

9. Everyone is different

I quit smoking one afternoon in 1978 cold turkey. I had smoked anywhere from one to one and a half packs a day at work, not so much at home and rarely on week-ends.

I ran out just before lunch. The machine in the office was out of my brand(s). When I met my husband for lunch a few minutes later, he was out, too, and the restaurant vending machine was out of order. I quit out of frustration and didn't touch another one for a year. A year later I had ONE at a party where everyone else around me was smoking. I choked and didn't have another for eight years.

In 1987, under horrendous job stress and working in an office with a chain smoker, I picked up the habit again, though never going above five or six a day, none at home, none on week-ends. About that time Phoenix passed the first of its no smoking laws, requiring that workplaces become smoke free if a single affected employee requested it. I filed a complaint, and our office was smoke free the next day.

Since then -- since 1987 -- I've had two cigarettes, both borrowed from smoker friends at business conferences and both stubbed out after one or two drags. The last one was in 1994.

Though my husband quit smoking in the house in about 1988, he never gave it up completely. He lied to me about it, spent money we didn't have on it, and ultimately died a very ugly death in 2005 of pneumonia caused by lung cancer that had spread to his liver and lymph nodes and spine.

I never went through withdrawal. I didn't gain weight. I didn't have mood swings. Quitting was easy for me, but it wasn't for my husband.

It disturbs me greatly to have someone, especially someone who admits how hard it is to kick the habit, defend smoking. HFCS may very well contribute to diabetes, along with other facets of an unhealthy lifestyle and diet. It's to be fought, too. But just because there are other health problems out there doesn't mean we should ignore the horrendous damage smoking can and does.

Fear of terrorists may be a political weapon, but fear of smoking should never be denigrated. I watched what it did to my husband.


Tansy Gold

[Maryland Liberal]

5. Leave Obama alone

If he wants to smoke - let em. Hes probably gonna fall off the wagon a few more times - as it takes the average person 7 tries b4 he actually succeeds.

[jacobfloyd]

7. I'm falling into debt, worried about losing my house

seriously. We've yet to miss a mortgage payment, but still, if the economy is going to get worse, then I have reason to be concerned. We're hanging in there.

. . . . but smoking in the White House? That's the big issue these days, huh?

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

10. Jake:

It's just the new bright, shiny thing. It will lose its luster.

It's also an issue tailor-made for those who care to opine vociferously about every human failing under the sun, from the safe and warm comfort of their keyboards.

For we all know thaty they, in normative reality, lead lives devoid of even one human failing, lives above any reproach.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

8. I wish him luck.

Nicotine has an interesting effect on the brain, and it is one of the reasons it is so addictive: Nicotine, when it goes through the blood/brain barrier(quite effectively, I might add), heads straight for the Limbic system. The Limbic System is the area of the brain that developed for survival and a sense of well-being. Nicotine, while the most powerful stimulant around, by weight, stimulates this part of the brain and creates a sense of calm and well-being. This is why people under stress will smoke like chimneys. This is also why the rates of smokers amongt mental health consumers is so high and it is so hard to get them to quit, even when they are well-medicated.

There will be stressful moments for the PE, from Jump Street. I wish him well in his quest. It's gonna be tough.

[WritersBlock]

11. So did Tom Brokaw ask Laura how many packs a day she smoked in the WH over the past 8 years?

Nope, didn't think so.

Non-news.

(Not intended as criticism of the OP for posting it here; intended as criticism of the MSM for publishing it in the first damn place.)

[sledgehammer]

22. Michelle O made smoking an issue...

It was her insistence that he give it up that made the news, and Obama has not shied away from discussion on it either. Their openness on such issues is a great thing really (and already a CHANGE from first families past). Smoking is not a good habit and I think nearly everyone understands that. Not only is it medically damaging, it is financially draining.

Obama has an opportunity to set an example. As an admitted smoker he is working to quit. He is human, and he will fail here and there. But quitting smoking is good for him, his family, and the rest of the country - especially the impressionable youth.

For all the weird stuff that Mike Huckabee spouts, I do respect him for losing weight (100 lbs I think?) while in office as Gov of Arkansas, and setting an example to fight obesity. And it's really, really hard to find one good thing to say about Dubya over his 8 year reign, but he did mention the issue of drugs in sport during a State of the Union address - that's almost the only thing positive I can say about him (and possibly his increased aid to Africa...that's pretty much it!).

Of course smoking, weight loss, drugs in sport are not the most important issues when the economy is tanking and the country is engaged in multiple wars, but they do hold significance and where possible should be addressed by the leaders. And if they can do it by example, even better.

[qwlauren35]

37. Of all the vices he could have.... I'll accept smoking tobacco.

He doesn't sleep around, he doesn't drink...

And he's about to take on one of the most stressful jobs in the US.

Sorry - I can't get bent out of shape about him smoking. I am sad for him. But I'm not his mommy.

[lutefisk]

31. On a related note, did Tom ask Junior how much alcohol he's consumed in the past 8 years?

Junior made that one a big issue, after all.

[rocktivity]

12. .

:boring:
rocknation

[radfringe]

15. This is not news, it's fluff

and not worthy of a show like Meet the Press...

it's going to make next week's globall moran list



GLOBALL MORANS for week ending Sunday Dec. 7, 2008
http://www.progressivesplayground.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=106&topic_id=509&mesg_id=509&page=

[Kolesar]

16. I will quit when Tom Brokaw stops prostituting himself

(btw, I don't smoke)

[anokaflash]

18. Cigars

I had me last cigarette in my latest attempt on November 6, 2007. I haven't touched one since. But what I have done, is have a cigar now and then. Maybe a couple or 3 over the course of a week, to participate in the act of smoking. Works like a charm.

Quitting cigs has been the hardest thing I have ever done, and went over 3 years once before starting again. My only advice is you "gotta wanna". You can't do it for anyone else but yourself or you will ever make it.

Flash
http://centrisity.com

[Ishoutandscream2]

19. Hey Tom the whore. Ask Bushie if he's "fallen off the wagon"

You know, that drinky, drinky thing.

[Doctor_J]

20. This is viewed as big news by those who think having an alcoholic cocaine user in the WH

is just fine.

[Bigmack]

26. If George Drinky McFuckup smoked in the WH...

I don't care. His longevity is no concern of mine.

Obama is the only - and slim - hope for this country.... maybe the world.

His health is definitely my concern. I always wondered why we had to share info about Reagan's colon health... as if I gave a shit. Now I understand why that personal health info could be important.

We own Obama, just as he owns our future.

Both my parents died of smoking. Both of Ms. Bigmack's parents died of smoking.

Smoke if you want, but Obama can't afford to.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

27. priyanka says she doesnt care if you smoke out the window in your own home. nt

[endarkenment]

28. I AM CONSIRNED!!!!!!

[Iwillnevergiveup]

29. And all the right wing nut jobs

thought Barack got a free pass from the press???

Brokaw on MTP - no can watch. That pompous lecturing "The White House is a no smoking zone" is so disrespectful and accusatory.

I wish the President-elect much success in his efforts to truly quit. Not buying his own is a very good start. And didn't Brokaw used to smoke? If so, could he not have wished Obama good luck, too? I wish MTP supremely low ratings in the coming months.

[Doctor_J]

33. The WH is not, however, a "No getting plastered and falling on your face zone"

luckily for Smirk

[Gman2]

30. Funny, I pictured him and Chris Rock, firing up one in the lincoln bedroom.

Hoping Rahm doesnt catch wind.

[Fumesucker]

34. But, but..

Obama is, I believe, on record as stating that drug addicts should be forced into treatment.

I guess that's only for *some* drug addicts.

[scytherius]

35. A better man than I. On day 1 I'd be in the OvalOffice, feet on desk, stogie a burnin'. nt

nt

[Bake]

36. He can do like Jed Bartlett ...

Step right outside the Oval Office door onto the covered walkway and burn one.

:evilgrin:

Smoke 'em if you got 'em, Mr. President!!

Bake

[cayuga]

38. Laura smokes. And more than likely, in the WH.

The current residents of the White House have lots and lots of secrets. Like...anyone ever see a picture of their ranch house in Texas? It's not the one in the photo ops. As time goes on, we will learn many of their little secrets they have forbidden the media to report on.

[Lagomorph]

39. If he ends the embargo....

I'd allow him a few Cohibas.

[eowyn_of_rohan]

40. smoking responsible for "1 in 5 deaths" I call BS.

Wonder how many presidents smoked in the White House before Obama? Many. He should be able to light up if he wants to, and it's nobody else's business.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

42. Bush got rid of Clinton's "no-smoking in WH" rule ASAP

Puff-puff-puff that cigarette.

RIP, Phil Harris (1904-1995)