Cause to congratulate the President

[JDPriestly]

Robert Gibbs reports that President Obama has stopped smoking. Now that is some good news for a change.

Congratulations Mr. President. This is the best gift you can possibly give your children.

Two wars, a jobless recovery and a brutal Election Day might make some folks nervous enough to grab a cigarette. But the hard times have had the opposite effect on President Obama, who hasn't had a smoke in nearly a year, according to his White House spokesman.

"I've not seen or witnessed evidence of smoking in probably nine months," Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Thursday. "I think he has worked extremely hard. And I think he would tell you, even when, in the midst of a tax agreement and a START deal and all the other things that accumulate, that even where he might have once found some comfort in that . . . he's pushed it away."

Obama, who plays basketball regularly and works out six days a week, has in the past acknowledged a smoking habit that he's tried to kick since his election two years ago. Gibbs said last year the president was 95 percent cured, the Washington Post reported. But suspicion lingered that he sneaked a cigarette now and then.

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/12/10/has-obama-finally-licked-his-smoking-habit/

[Life Long Dem]

1. He should never have started up again

No congratulation,

[11 Bravo]

5. I looked up sanctimonious in the dictionary.

You take a very nice picture.

[Life Long Dem]

6. Not only did he start back up during his presidency.

But Gibbs hasn't convinced me that he really quit.

[JDPriestly]

9. People usually quit and then restart and then finally quit.

Some people "quit" over and over until they finally kick it. It's tough. If Obama has kicked the habit, it is to me a sign that he is realizing that he has to be stronger. Stopping smoking takes self-discipline. I never smoked but my husband and many of my friends did.

This is quite an achievement.

[gateley]

2. My heartfelt congrats -- it's SO HARD to quit! And with all the pressure he's

constantly under. I'd have a cigarette in one hand and a jug of Scotch in the other.

Keep it up, Mr. President! :headbang:

[Union Scribe]

3. That is good news.

Hell we'll take it where we can find it, right? Good for him.

[Laelth]

4. I'd rather him not quit right now.

I need him to be calm, cool, and collected--not constantly agitated.

-Laelth

[JDPriestly]

8. Apparently he quit a year ago.

[Bluerthanblue]

7. this is great- though people will find a way to bash him for it one

way or another.

K&R

[CakeGrrl]

10. Good on the President - by all I've seen, a very hard habit to break. n/t