Jump to full article: Ventura County (CA) Star, 2009-06-27
Author: Dale McFeatters
Intro: President Flawless, it seems, has a flaw.
The White House has been opaque about whether Barack Obama has quit smoking, as he promised his wife, Michelle, when she agreed to a presidential race. During the campaign, reporters occasionally saw him mooching a cigarette off an aide, but now that he's president, he's only seen when he wants and how he wants.
Maybe Fox News' ambushers are skulking in the shrubbery in case Obama steps out of the Oval Office for a quick smoke, but if so, they've come up empty. . . .
During the campaign, it was said he smoked five a day. Apparently, he has improved. He said he is not a daily smoker, and doesn't smoke in front of his children or his family.
Which raises the question: Where does he smoke? . . .
A best guess would be Reggie Love, his "body man," which is an actual title in Washington for an aide assigned to look after all the president's personal needs. The body man typically has on hand a supply of breath mints, cough drops, aspirin and -- maybe -- cigarettes.
If Obama is down to, say, one cigarette every other day or so, there doesn't seem to be any reason he can't quit altogether. But maybe there's a method in his lapses. He might be stealthily stealing yet another voting bloc from the Republicans -- smokers and ex-smokers. Anybody who has ever quit or tried to quit has to sympathize with Obama and his habit of 30 years.
But the world of smokers is getting smaller and not just for health reasons. With his salary of $400,000 a year, Obama is one of the diminishing number of people who can still afford to smoke.
Jump to full article » |