Huckleberries Online

ITHO Idaho: Obama & His Smokes

Posted by DFO

March 9, 2009 10:18 a.m. • 39 comments

FDR’s use of his wheelchair and the ability of his handlers to not call attention to it, is the focus of a wonderfully clear and well-written book, entitled “Splendid Deception”. I’ve owned it for years and highly recomend it. The book details FDR’s deceptive success in NEVER calling attention to his disability…and thus deceiving many Americans about his health condition. Though the longest serving President ever, FDR’s lack of complete honesty regarding his health, still boggles the mind of admirer and those less engaged in admiration of him. So what is the splendid deception of today? One picture tells a thousand puffs…President Barak Obama smokes. So why do we not see any pics of President Obama smoking?/Dennis Mansfield. More here.

Otter looking for half-full glass/Kevin Richert
Yucca Mountain decision delays N-waste solution/SR
New GOP chief Steele isn’t boring/Fort Boise
Wolves/Idaho Conservation League
Monday Morning Coffee/Unequivocal Notion

Question: Would your attitude toward President Obama change if you regularly saw photos of him smoking cigarettes?

39 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

JeanC on March 09 at 10:27 a.m.
Nope.
BlueinIdaho on March 09 at 10:27 a.m.
Probably the same reason we didn’t see any pics of GW Bush drinking.
Sam on March 09 at 10:44 a.m.
We probably don’t see any pics of him smoking because he doesn’t smoke in an area where pictures can be taken.

FDR being in a wheel chair is a bit different. It’s an apples to oranges comparison for how the media covered it.
hmoffsuite on March 09 at 10:52 a.m.
Actually, Blue, Bush did stop drinking as a personal decision and we all know that. Nice cheap shot, though. It takes a lot of character to stop drinking or stop smoking. Obviously, Bush had that character, appearantly Obama doesn’t. It’s that simple.
Me on March 09 at 11:00 a.m.
I keep forgetting that he smokes. It makes him more relateable to me. An unlike hmoffsuite I don’t think of it as lacking character. As a former smoker I KNOW how ungodly hard it is to quit. I don’t see it as a weakness, but a struggle.
Arpie on March 09 at 11:43 a.m.
I used to be aghast that Obama might still be smoking. Anarticle in Slate changed my mind http://www.slate.com/id/2206445/ . It said in part:

Do you want to die because President Obama is dying for a smoke? It’s true that smoking would be bad for our 44th president, who’s been trying to kick the habit. Lung cancer caused by smoking is a major cause of death in America. Even secondhand smoke is deadly, we’re told. But how about secondhand radioactive plutonium? Might that turn out to be a major cause of death (for those not already dead in a nuclear exchange)? Do I have to answer that?

I’ll give the guy a butt now and then If he wants one.
radco on March 09 at 11:50 a.m.
His wheelchair is not smoking - it’s the teleprompters.
JohnA on March 09 at 11:55 a.m.
I think we should all just butt out of the discussion. I trust he’ll stop smoking one of these days, and just in the nicotine. :)

Actually, as long as it’s the legal stuff he puffs, I say no problem.
Phaedrus on March 09 at 12:03 p.m.
Stopping drinking and stopping smoking has nothing to do with character, anyone who has done so can attest to that fact. The comment made was no less a cheap shot than the one being responded to.
hmoffsuite on March 09 at 12:08 p.m.
Phaedrus. That is exactly what it was intended to be. Thank you.
florined on March 09 at 12:20 p.m.
Those who have read about the history-making advertizing campaigns used by cigarette manufacturers in the infancy of their industry know that one of the major strategies used was plastering pictures of beautiful, preferably famous, people smoking, on billboards, in magazines, and in films. The hoped-for inference on the part of an impressionable public was that smoking added to the pleasure of living, made one sophistocated, etc. And, if studies were accurate, such a strategy was stunningly effective.

Since President (or even candidate) Obama didn’t lie when asked, is it possible he’s not “hiding” it, but rather, facing the fact that pictures showing him smoking could have an unwanted effect on impressionable youth?
BlueinIdaho on March 09 at 12:20 p.m.
hmoffsuite, if you believe Dubya actually stopped drinking then I owe you a bag of pretzels.
Bent on March 09 at 1:01 p.m.
Hey DFO, I sent you an Obama picture awhile ago that would illustrate this thread better the Mansfield’s mug. By not posting it, doesn’t that make YOU a part of the “Splendid Deception” of Obama?

P.S. I’ll resend it to your email…
Whippersnapper on March 09 at 1:31 p.m.
Of course he’s hiding it and it’s embarrassing. Obama’s an incredibly smart guy who can’t quit a disgusting habit. Anyone who denies this is fooling themselves.
And it’s not the biggest problem we face right now.
DFO on March 09 at 1:37 p.m.
Bent; I just swapped out the Dennis Mansfield mug for the photo of young Obama smoking a cigarette. Thanx.
Bent on March 09 at 1:38 p.m.
Ha! nice DFO, I knew you ‘d break ranks with the MSM on this one…
Bent on March 09 at 1:41 p.m.
By the looks of his eyelids, I’m not so sure that is tobacco he’s smoking there,,, but, I guess you never know…
Phaedrus on March 09 at 1:54 p.m.
Nobody smokes a ‘cigarette’ that way.
Escapee on March 09 at 3:02 p.m.
FDR wasn’t forthcoming about his health because he wanted to project an image of strength, and I don’t see what’s wrong about that. If President Obama smokes, well, that’s probably his business, although I’d strongly suggest that he quit YESTERDAY.
Aliasjax on March 09 at 5:19 p.m.
Only if his image were emblazoned onto a T-shirt, ala Che…then I’d think he was really cool.

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.