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First lady confirms Obama is smoke free
Source: Agencies |
February 10, 2011, Thursday
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A LARGE majority of smokers who try to quit are back puffing away within six months, so US President Barack Obama is ahead of the game.
He hasn't had a cigarette in almost a year, first lady Michelle Obama said on Tuesday.
Asked whether he had conquered a nicotine habit he picked up as a teenager, she said: "Yes, he has. It's been almost a year." Mrs Obama offered no details on exactly when or how he did it.
But is his relationship with nicotine really over?
About 46 million people, or one in five adults, smoke, and brain research shows that nicotine is powerfully addictive. Three-fourths of smokers who try to stop fall off the wagon within six months, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Smokers will tell you it often takes repeated attempts to quit long term.
Obama, who has one of the world's most stressful jobs and recently has been grappling with political instability in Egypt, a close US ally, has walked this road before. He announced in February 2008, during his presidential campaign, that he was quitting smoking - again.
"He's always wanted to stop," Mrs Obama said on Tuesday, "he wants to be able to look daughters Malia, 12, and Sasha, 9, in the eye and deny that he smokes should they ask."
The issue of Obama's smoking last surfaced in December, when White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was asked about it and said he had "not seen or witnessed evidence of any smoking in probably nine months." That timeline would put Obama's final cigarette puffs in March of last year.
At the time, Gibbs stopped short of asserting that Obama had quit completely.
The White House offered no details on Tuesday, in keeping with its practice of trying to keep the US president's habit out of the spotlight.
Obama last addressed the question in June 2009. Before signing a tough anti-smoking law designed to keep millions of teens from getting hooked, Obama ruefully admitted that he had spent his adult life trying to give up cigarettes.
At a news conference on the following day he admitted to sneaking an occasional puff.
"I constantly struggle with it," Obama said. "Have I fallen off the wagon sometimes? Yes. Am I a daily smoker, a constant smoker? No."
Obama said he didn't smoke in front of his kids or other family and had declared himself "95 percent cured." But he also acknowledged times "where I mess up."
"I hate it," Michelle Obama told CBS' "60 Minutes" early in the campaign. "That's why he doesn't do it anymore, I'm proud to say. I outed him - I'm the one who outed him on the smoking."
She said one of her requirements for entering the race was that "he couldn't be a smoking president."
Based on her comments on Tuesday, he is no longer that.
He hasn't had a cigarette in almost a year, first lady Michelle Obama said on Tuesday.
Asked whether he had conquered a nicotine habit he picked up as a teenager, she said: "Yes, he has. It's been almost a year." Mrs Obama offered no details on exactly when or how he did it.
But is his relationship with nicotine really over?
About 46 million people, or one in five adults, smoke, and brain research shows that nicotine is powerfully addictive. Three-fourths of smokers who try to stop fall off the wagon within six months, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Smokers will tell you it often takes repeated attempts to quit long term.
Obama, who has one of the world's most stressful jobs and recently has been grappling with political instability in Egypt, a close US ally, has walked this road before. He announced in February 2008, during his presidential campaign, that he was quitting smoking - again.
"He's always wanted to stop," Mrs Obama said on Tuesday, "he wants to be able to look daughters Malia, 12, and Sasha, 9, in the eye and deny that he smokes should they ask."
The issue of Obama's smoking last surfaced in December, when White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was asked about it and said he had "not seen or witnessed evidence of any smoking in probably nine months." That timeline would put Obama's final cigarette puffs in March of last year.
At the time, Gibbs stopped short of asserting that Obama had quit completely.
The White House offered no details on Tuesday, in keeping with its practice of trying to keep the US president's habit out of the spotlight.
Obama last addressed the question in June 2009. Before signing a tough anti-smoking law designed to keep millions of teens from getting hooked, Obama ruefully admitted that he had spent his adult life trying to give up cigarettes.
At a news conference on the following day he admitted to sneaking an occasional puff.
"I constantly struggle with it," Obama said. "Have I fallen off the wagon sometimes? Yes. Am I a daily smoker, a constant smoker? No."
Obama said he didn't smoke in front of his kids or other family and had declared himself "95 percent cured." But he also acknowledged times "where I mess up."
"I hate it," Michelle Obama told CBS' "60 Minutes" early in the campaign. "That's why he doesn't do it anymore, I'm proud to say. I outed him - I'm the one who outed him on the smoking."
She said one of her requirements for entering the race was that "he couldn't be a smoking president."
Based on her comments on Tuesday, he is no longer that.
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