On Presidential Smoking

I received an email earlier today from an old friend, Frank. Actually he manages to get several emails out each week and it's always nice to be remembered by someone whom I respect for having "been there and done that" in my former life.

Frank is, like me, conservative in his political views and this email was not in favor of the current Administration, Congress or Obamacare. It went as follows (minus, unfortunately, the picture of a little old lady holding a cigarette and an attitude):


"Let me get this straight......we're trying to pass a health care plan written by a committee whose chairman says he doesn't understand it, passed by a Congress that hasn't read it but exempts themselves from it, to be signed by a president that also is exempt from it and hasn't read it and who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes, all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that's broke. "

"What the hell could possibly go wrong?"


When I read the email I smiled for it captured the essence of Conservative reluctance to accept government oversight of something as personal as health care. Individual liberty, embodied in the right to make choices for ourselves, is, after all, a core Conservative belief.

As I was pondering the events of the last few days over a cigar on my front porch this evening I came to the conclusion that the derogatory comment about President Obama smoking was a bit hypocritical. After all, there I was enjoying a very fine cigar with my thoughts, something I've done for over 40 years, and who was I to sneer at the President for enjoying an occasional tobacco cigarette. (I specify tobacco because given the current political correctness the Left Stream Media would not worry or even mention it if it was marijuana.)

Tobacco has, after all, been used since we came to the New World. It has detractors, mainly because they don't like the smell, but our life span has certainly increased during the last few centuries despite its use. The medical arguments against smoking are generally accepted even though, when done in moderation, there is less danger in smoking than driving your car down the highway. (Odd, but they make medical arguments for smoking marijuana but against tobacco when marijuana is more harmful to the lungs. But I digress.) Still, I don't recommend the use of tobacco to the young. Cigarettes do smell bad but they've been used by politicians for many, many years and entered the political lexicon with references to "smoke filled rooms" where decisions of state were made.

But the politicians who smoked were not always lightweights like those in power today. Think about the iconic pictures of Churchill with his cigar. FDR with his cigarette in a holder at a jaunty angle. John F. Kennedy even enjoyed cigars on occasion and was photographed enjoying one while sitting in his ever present rocking chair. (The only complaint about JFK's cigars that I ever had was that he sent Pierre Salinger out to buy all the Cuban Davidoff cigars he could find before signing the embargo. They were reputed to have remained in a humidor in New York City after his death before passing on to his son and then, after John-John's unfortunate death, on to Caroline and her husband. I don't know if Caroline or her husband smoke them but I hope so. It would be a shame to let them go to waste given the labor of the Cuban artisans that made them by hand. But again, I digress.) Why, even Bill Clinton...wait, I don't want to go there. Let's just acknowledge that many Presidents enjoyed tobacco and it gave them pleasure and solace as they faced the pressures of that lofty and lonely office. We should, therefore, not berate Barack for his occasional cigarette. It is a shame that we have become so politically correct that his smoking is an issue.

Of course, there are those who say the President should set an example and that is true to an extent. He shouldn't be photographed with a cigarette because of the possible impact on children, but what he does in private is his business and we shouldn't meddle. Indeed, we should allow him his small vice and not make a federal case out of it when it comes up. My position is that it is demeaning that he has to bum a cigarette from one of his staff or one of the Secret Service Agents who protect him. It's ridiculous when you think about it. I mean, picture the scene of President Obama sitting with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu in the Oval Office just yesterday. It was a serious meeting. So serious that no pictures were allowed to be taken. The conversation was heated at times and the pressure intense as President Obama tried to convince Prime Minister Netanyahu to not build Israeli settlements in Israeli territory in East Jerusalem and Prime Minister Netanyahu just as firmly rejected that position stating that East Jerusalem was Israeli territory. Then, in an effort to calm the discussion so that they could both think and reflect for a moment, Barack was forced to say, "Bibi, do you have a cigarette I could bum?"

How bad is it, because of political correctness, we put our president in a position of bumming cigarettes? He should have had his own stash with the Presidential Seal on the paper so that he could have offered one to Bibi and gain the upper hand while looking magnanimous.

I'd support that, as a pack-a-day is a small price to pay when it comes to ensuring our President doesn't have to act like he's doing something wrong in his own office or confirm that our country is so close to bankruptcy that we can't even provide cigarettes or cigars for guests. After all, what's the worse thing that could happen?