do you care if Obama smokes ?

[zhuzhu]

Date: 2/20/2009 7:05:58 PM
Author: m76steve
with the way he is telling people he is transparrent-which he is not-that people can see the bills he passes for 5 days-then for 2 days-then not at all-then has these bills passed without the workings being read-with his expressions of gloom & doom & crisis daily expressed-with the market steadly dropping since last may when he started winning elections-he should choke!!-not alot just a little-maby this will snap some sence into him-your man not mine!!!

I think you are blaming market crisis on the wrong person here. We did not get into this big mess overnight. I also want to say that I am sorry there is so much anger in you.

 

[m76steve]

not so much anger-more frustration-in that people will not see what he is trying to do to this country-in just 30 days he is throwing your grandchildrens taxes to locations that cannot be traced-no accounting-he is telling us all of crisis & doom-he has no outlook of any recovery unless we let him take over our lives-in total-most people are saying it cant happen here-he has already a very good foothold-look at the information around you-open your eyes!!-FRUSTRATION!!...

 

[AllieGator]

I don''t really want to touch everything else you said...although I am curious as to how you know of these secret bank accounts that are stealing non-existent tax money (people generally need to be born before they pay taxes.) And I''m not sure how he''s taking over our lives, it was Bush who approved Wire Tapping under the Patriot act, but...whatever.

I''m not sure how smoking has to do with Obama taking over the world, but I''ll echo what tlh said...at least it''s not Interns!

 

[partgypsy]

I would prefer that he not smoke for the reasons already expressed, that it is unhealthy and will shorten his life but the short answer is it''s not against the law and really his own private business. My primary concern is that he does a good job. Heck if he does a better job while being a smoker than being all freaked out trying to quit I guess I would pick the smoker.
Ironically my husband said he liked that he smoked because it made him more human.

 

[cara]

Date: 2/8/2009 10:21:04 PM
Author: Rank Amateur
My 12 year old was asking about this today.

He was shocked, crushed, bewildered that Obama smokes. All the anti-drug stuff they put into the kids heads at school does penetrate. Why does he do it? Why can''t he stop?

Well this is an educational opportunity. He''s addicted. Leader of the free world finds it difficult to give up his fix. Lesson for your kid: don''t start with the cancer sticks. They can be hard to quit even when the whole world is watching. Nicotine is addictive.

I explained to him that there aren''t that many pictures of Obama smoking because he knows it would be politically harmful for people to see him smoking. I told him that politicians are always trying to display themselves as something they''re not.

While I appreciate your right to pass your deep cynicism on to your kid, consider that its not just the harm to his own political image that keeps Obama from smoking in public. He''s not lying about smoking (that we know of), it is stated plainly in the press that he is a smoker, especially during the campaign when comparing his health to that of McCain, and a close reading of Obama''s comments to Anderson Cooper clearly imply he has not quit cold turkey yet (see DancingFire''s post earlier). So its out there that he smokes.

While I would certainly prefer that he quit, for his health and the example, I think he is allowed to have his legal private vices. But I would be seriously pissed if he were regularly being photographed with cigarette in hand because he knows better. Visuals matter. Even Lindsey Lohan knew enough to know she should avoid being photographed with a cigarette - she might not have been up to executing the necessary discretion to achieve that goal, but Obama should be. Whether or not there are political considerations for the reputation of the smoker in hand, an image of a popular, powerful celebrity-type person smoking is quite effective advertising. One shot of Obama with his favorite cig would provide a hefty boost to that companies'' marketing efforts. And provide a powerful image that would more easily convey to kids that the president does smoke, and perhaps it isn''t so bad for them to smoke too. Obama does have daughters, and most smokers I know are not keen to have their kids start. Its pretty reasonable that part of why he doesn''t want to be photographed smoking is so as to not set a bad example for kids and others. Its out there that he smokes, so I don''t see that he is really trying to be deceptive or duplicitous by avoiding being photographed smoking, just responsible!