Obama as ex-smoker-in-chief: Was he really afraid of Michelle?
| WASHINGTON
For regular smokers quitting isn鈥檛 easy, and the motivation to do so 鈥� health reasons or social mores 鈥� isn鈥檛 always strong enough.
But when a person can鈥檛 just head outside to light up and enjoy, when photos of him mid-cigarette could become a public health endorsement to all the globe鈥檚 children, well, then perhaps that habit gets rethought. Maybe.
But it really helps a person kick that dependence, if he is fearful of his spouse鈥檚 reaction to it. At least, that鈥檚 what it took for President Obama to beat his smoking routine.
"I haven't had a cigarette in six years ... that's because I'm scared of my wife," telling a United Nations official.
That six years number might be a little fuzzy, . During a 2009 news conference, Obama indicated that he hadn鈥檛 quite given up his smokes.
鈥淚鈥檝e said before that as a former smoker I constantly struggle with it,鈥� he said. 鈥淗ave I fallen off the wagon sometimes. Yes. Am I a daily smoker, a constant smoker? No.鈥�
Anyone who has ever loved a smoker knows that pushing that person to quit comes from a deep place of concern. So first lady Michelle Obama鈥檚 influence should be viewed as admirable, no? She cares. She wants him healthy, and she probably prefers her daughters not breathe in their father鈥檚 secondhand smoke.
Not to mention the fact that, ever image conscious, the first lady probably knows that the leader of the free world should not partake (at least publicly) of an unhealthy habit 鈥� perhaps, most especially, as he advocates for health-care reform.
(It might be worth noting peripherally that smokers were supposed to be penalized under the president's health-care law, a move that would have raised their premiums or even made them unaffordable, according to published reports. But a computer glitch in the system revealed this summer will limit the imposition of tobacco-use penalties for at least a year.)
But the coverage Tuesday of the president鈥檚 offhand remark also touches on a commonly explored thematic: That the first lady is a scold.
She wants Americans to eat more vegetables and .
News reports Tuesday emphasized the fear factor involved in Obama鈥檚 decision to quit. 鈥淣o one is exempt from first lady Michelle Obama鈥檚 health initiatives 鈥� especially not her husband,鈥� .听听听
About being scared of his wife, : 鈥淲ith arms like the first lady鈥檚, who can blame him?聽聽聽
The web is dotted with photographs of Obama smoking throughout the years. As a young kid, with a dapper hat perched on his head, a bracelet on one wrist. Another of Obama as a young man, hair longer, wearing a leather jacket. And then there鈥檚 the suited Obama, smoking with what appears to be a foreign official.听听听
There鈥檚 no denying that, in whatever role she played, the first lady has done her husband a favor. In a 2012 iVillage interview, she suggests that first daughters Sasha and Malia were the real reasons behind Obama鈥檚 new-found commitment.听听听
"I know that his ability to ultimately kick the habit was because of the girls, because they're at the age now where you can't hide," . "I think that he didn't want to look his girls in the eye and tell them that they shouldn't do something that he was still doing."
