No biggie. Lots of Kenyans smoke.
Surprised that he smoked or that he inhaled?
I noticed some people didn’t tend to believe the Gallop Poll because people can lie. That is true, people can, and do. But there is no reason to believe that the bottom right corner lied anymore than the people in the upper left hand corner of the table. And if they did lie more, that means that there is at least more anti-smoking sentiment at the higher income and education levels.
I guess it all comes down to experiences and what people expect. All the smokers I know tend to be lower income and older (45+). I know very few (if any) smokers with an undergrad degree and under the age of 35.
I guess I also tend to forget that Obama is 49 years old. People are always talking about how young he is, I subconsciously put him in the late 30’s bracket, even thought I know he is older than that.
I know the elder Bush smoked cigars, and I thought that the younger Bush had quite cigs at one point–but I don’t have a cite for that.
Nope.
I first met Obama before he was nationally known, standing outside the Fox News studio on Michigan Avenue in the Chicago Loop, presumably before appearing on some news show or other, sucking on a cancer stick. Well, actually, I met him as he was coming in from the smoking break. Being a politician, he said hello, shook my hand, and asked if I had voted for him because if I had he wanted to thank me. No, I hadn’t - I was an Indiana resident, not Illinois, but if I ever had the opportunity I’d consider doing so. He laughed a bit, made a disparaging remark about the likelihood of running for national office and we wished each other a good day.
So yeah, I knew he smoked.
And no, I don’t expect he would remember me at all, a chance minute-long encounter with a random stranger when he was just starting out in his political career.
I’m surprised that every single president doesn’t smoke.
When your job includes being woken up at all hours, seven days a week, 365 days a year by frantic people who say things to you like “Sorry to have woken you sir, however we have reliable information that a terrorist attack may hit New York this afternoon during rush hour, the Dow Jones just dropped 1000 points, and the opposition party plans on releasing a press statement that you have never denied, publically, that you routinely decapitate retarded children with spoons…what should we do?” how in the hell are you not going to smoke?
If I were president I’d be outside roughly every 20 minutes smoking a butt and muttering to myself about “I just don’t know what the fuck they think I’m going to do…”
His autobiography mentioned that he smoked quite at one point. And I thought that Laura Bush’s smoking was well known.
Well, I would guess that most people that don’t smoke don’t think of smoking as a way to relieve stress.
It’s not hard to find quotes from her that she’d quit several times, here’s a very good compilation (she’s a bit down the page). Her story is that she quit for good once Dubya was elected to governor - but there is an awful lot of supporting evidence that she continued to smoke during her time in the White House. Kitty Kelly’s Bush book has an inside source that she appropriated a room in the White House for her to smoke in, and would often host lunch for other smokers. Reporters would see her smoking during the 2000 and 2004 campaign as well.
Are there any pictures in existence of Obama smoking? I seem to recall at one point there was some media outlet that was offering $10,000 for a photo of him cigarette in hand.
There was one kicking around. I don’t know if it post-dated his election though.
And of course there’s this one which I think we can safely say probably predates his political career.
Actually, I’m more surprised that people give a shit.
Yes, I was surprised.
Well, I believe you, but…
What is the awful lot of evidence? Are Kitty Kelly books reliable? What reporters saw her smoking during the campaigns?
I was actually pleasantly surprised when I found out. Something about it made him more human and not so self-righteous.
Well…
I, personally, don’t think it’s that hard to believe that a former heavy smoker went back to smoking during one of the most stressful events you can go through (a presidential campaign). I also don’t think it’s a huge damnation to reveal that Laura went back to smoking - so why would it be character assassination to do so? I really don’t care either way, but I find it a lot easier to believe the “unnamed reporters” and “undisclosed White House source” are true than made up to besmirch the honor of a first lady.
Edit: And I’ve known plenty of people in real life who quit, then go on to just smoke the occasional cigarette they bum off of friends and don’t classify themselves as “smokers”, or that they still think they’ve quit smoking.
It is a cultural, or status type of thing. Lower income people may not see smoking as a character flaw, while the highly educated type often do. I don’t believe the polls are generally accurate, but that doesn’t mean the results are wrong about who smokes more, but maybe wrong about the proportions. But I think the big problem is that it doesn’t ask people whether they’ve ever smoked. When doctors ask for medical history, they don’t just ask if you smoke now, they ask if you’ve ever smoked. And even if you are not smoking now, or for a long time, doesn’t mean you won’t start again.
I was surprised about Obama.
The last time I was surprised that somebody smoked was when I started a new job, and when it was smoke break time one of the people who took advantage of it was the attractive blonde in her 30’s, the personnel administrator. She just looked too clean and healthy and smart (and upscale and well-dressed) to be a smoker. We became good friends, bonding over smoke breaks, I think. It’s been 20 years. She still smokes, but not in front of her parents or kids and not in her house.
Some of the smokers on Amtrak surprised me too, the young, healthy-looking ones. The older ladies with the wrinkled upper lips, not so much. 
Strange, I’d have expected Keynesians to be less likely to smoke than fans of Friedman or Hayek…
Keynesians bum smokes off you, but only during a recession.
Regards,
Shodan