Lessons for Other Smokers in Obama’s Efforts to Quit

[groovedaddy]

Will one of President-elect Barack Obama’s New Year’s resolutions be to quit smoking once and for all?

His good-humored waffling in various interviews about smoking made it plain that Mr. Obama, like many who have vowed to quit at this time of year, had not truly done so.

He told Tom Brokaw of NBC several weeks ago, for example, that he “had stopped” but that “there are times where I’ve fallen off the wagon.” He promised to obey the no-smoking rules in the White House, but whether that meant he would be ducking out the back door for a smoke is not known. His transition team declined to answer any questions about his smoking, past or present, or his efforts to quit.

Antismoking activists would love to see him use his bully pulpit to inspire others to join him in trying to kick the habit, but he has not yet taken up their cause.

The last president to smoke more than occasionally was Gerald R. Ford, who was quite fond of his pipes. Jimmy Carter and both Presidents George Bush were reportedly abstainers, but Bill Clinton liked cigars from time to time, though he may have chewed more than he smoked.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/us/29smoke.html?th&emc=th

[Th1onein]

1. Someone needs to send him an electronic cigarette

A smoker of at least two packs a day, for over forty years, I quit smoking and stayed quit, so far, for a month now. Never thought it possible. I bought two electronic cigarettes, gave one to a friend of mine and SHE has now quit.

There are, sometimes, better ways to skin a cat that actually work.