Obama's Health
The fact that Sen. Obama was a smoker is old news, since he quit. Right? Think again.
The stories that have explored this issue all missed the point: Obama's history of smoking raises questions about his current and future health.
Some, like Jake Tapper, have suggested that Obama was less than honest about whether he still smoked, at least as of last August.
Others have suggested that Obama's smoking history makes him "more human," and that his (alleged) ability to quit makes him more heroic.
And some, perhaps with tongue in cheek to this, think quitting may actually hurt him by changing how his voice sounds.
Meanwhile, Sen. McCain's health questions are almost as old as he is. Congressman Jack Murtha (75), thinks John McCain (71) is too old for the pressures of high office, and he has come under legitimate pressure to release his medical records.
But what of Senator Obama's health? It's not as if once you quit smoking, all of the health effects immediately disappear. In fact, after enough smoking, some health effects are irreversible. Consider just the arteries and lungs.
How long and how much one smokes makes a difference. A 1998 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that the amount of fatty deposits in the carotid artery depended on total pack-years of tobacco exposure, not whether the patient currently smokes. And a smoker's excess risk of a stroke doesn't return to that of nonsmokers until at least five, or as long as twenty years after quitting. Sen. Obama would have to serve a hypothetical four smoke-free terms before his stroke risk returned to normal.
So how long and how much did Sen. Obama smoke? The information has not been officially released, and the campaign has not returned calls or emails posing this question. But he smoked a lot over his life.
He admits to having smoked up to ten cigarettes a day, but usually closer to five or six. Most people underestimate how much they smoke, but let's take him at his word. Let's also assume he really did quit when he said he did, in February 2007 (although he admits to having fallen off the wagon). That's about twenty-six years, given that we know he was smoking by the time he was a freshman at Occidental College. That's more than 55,000 -- maybe 70,000 cigarettes! Has this aspect of Sen. Obama's ability to serve really been explored?
Just because he's young, looks great, and exercises doesn't mean he's healthy. Recall Jim Fixx. An overweight smoker when he turned his life around at thirty-five, Fixx became the icon of fitness. He quit smoking and started running. Then he died in 1984 at age fifty-three -- while running.
Sen. Obama, while not overweight, smoked a lot longer than Jim Fixx did. And while the stresses of running may have contributed to Fixx's death, it was his years of smoking, not his running, that caused the plaque to build up in his arteries. Doctors say the stress of being president may in fact exceed the stress of running. And it's an unhealthier kind of stress.
The public deserves to know how long and how much Sen. Obama really smoked. Does he have other risk factors for heart disease? Compared to whites, for instance, African-Americans are more likely to die of a stroke, according to the American Heart Association. This, in fact, is probably the only time race is a legitimate question to raise this campaign season -- and just one of several health question on voters' minds.
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OH, PUHLEEZE!
I'm willing to bet substantial sums of money that the probability that Obama will die or be unable to do his job (read "become senile") in the next 4 years is waaaaaay lower than McCain's.
My only concern with Obama's smoking is that it sets a bad example. Period.
Oh God...take seven years to nearly destroy a country or two and it's all good....spend your youth drinking yourself half to death..no problem! You can still be President..BUT, smoke some cigarettes and you seem to be lower than whale shit.
I don't get it.
DMHendrix says about the latest Obama revelation( smoking blemish ) that he does not "get it." Of course you get it DM. It smacks of utter desperation and soon this absoute lunacy will be rejected immediately as it surfaces , embarasing the progenator.
I only skimmed this article and I still feel as though I've been robbed of precious time...
I you can't come up with subject matter better than this, then please...just...I don't, just do something else and spare us this crap.
if you don't like it then don't read it. No one forces you to come here and read every single article. Better yet, go start your own blog.
Your first sentence prompted me to Favorite your response, and I'm going to take the hint in just a moment.
One thing, though. Don't let the dishonesty of this column deter you from having good discussions about the hazards of smoking. At the age of 60 (Obama would be 54 after two terms), I am now suffering from emphysema, and smoking is taking its toll on my body. I want to see a lot more compassion and understanding for smokers, because it's still not well understood how brutally addictive it is for some people, but smoking is a big issue. Big Tobacco has been my Pusher Man all my life, and someday they're going to have to answer for that.
Bravo, Stier. The British should have really taken smoking into account when they elected Churchill.
Perhaps the Congress should regulate the President's diet as well.
Please.
Let's not forget the disasterous clusterf*** of a presidency that was the 4 terms of polio-crippled, chain smoking Franklin Roosevelt!
Bingo.
Amen. And this "article" is from someone who probably screams bloody murder when the government talks about intruding in his private life while suggesting that Obama's smoking and McCain's age are even issues? Dude - butt the f_ck out and mind your own business.
Oh, and by the way, we're all WELL F_CKING AWARE that McCain is old as dirt. Our eyes work. And if Obama chooses to smoke, so what? You're like one of those idiots that thinks Hillary is going to bomb some random country every 28 days because her mysterious lady parts make her crazy with teh PMS. The argument is just as weak and beneath this blog.
So, in summary, we should vote for Hillary because statistics show that she won't die of old age or get lung cancer at some later date TBD? That's what this has come to?
Friggin' sad.
Next up ... What hand does Obama wipe with maybe??? You have officially reached the knuckle dragging status of journalism.
Hysterical. YOu made my day.
I agree with the premise that Obama's past smoking habit is cause for concern, but shouldn't preclude anyone from voting for him. Many or most of our Presidents have been chain smokers, including some of our most highly rated, ie. FDR. Obama has a brilliant wife Michelle who keeps him grounded & was probably the prime influence in his decision to break the habit. Although he's not a vegetarian, he seems in relatively decent health and openly concedes to his past mistakes in his books (ie. "Dreams from my Father") about drug use. If we allow a dry drunk former cocaine-snorter such as George W. Bush to hijack the Oval Office for 8 years with impunity, we can certainly elect a far nobler constitutionally based civil rights attorney of Obama's caliber to lead the so-called Free World into some semblance of democratic sanity. Many of the problems caused by smoking, especially heart disease & various cancers, are more commonly caused by eating animal products, IOW the Standard American Diet (flesh, dairy, eggs). If we're really concerned about health care & reducing medical costs in this economy, it behooves all of us to commit to a vegan diet, particularly if we have any honest concern for the planet's fate & all Her inhabitants. Veganism is the #1 step you can take toward improving your own health & that of the ecosystem on which you depend for your family & species' survival.
"...and just one of several health question on voters' minds..."
I wasn't aware that this was one of the questions on voters' mind. That's news to me. Of course you didn't mention Clinton's health. She is an over sixty year old woman who drinks heavily. How long has she been drinking? How much does she drink per day? See where I am going?
I sure hope this post is a joke.
Smokers have been demonized enough.
Why do Americans always go from one extreme to the other in matters like these?
Being obese and eating poorly and playing video games all day is bad for health but it isn't demonized.
The whole made up second hand smoke thing is insane and goes against common sense and all well done scientific studies.
The Average American puts so many harmful things into their bodies and into the environment.
The President and Congress have been slowly removing your Freedom and have been bought up by rich corporate interests and people actually get into this issue?
Stress is a killer. Shouldn't we be attacking people for being on their preachy high horse, for being bullies, for being mean jerks because they cause stress and make us less healthy.
One fact for sure....we all die. How ever you live this will happen to us all.
Each of us in the USA are guaranteed the right to pursue our own definition of happiness.
LMAO! I really thought it was satire.......got to the end....couldn't find the funny......LOL
Ohhhh that's so sad.
Do you not think that there have been past presidents who smoked ??
Yeah, and no more presidents from California--bad air; from now on, we have to know the potty habits of presidential candidates--colon cancer; nobody from states where the sun shines--skin cancer; no women--breast cancer; have they ever eaten packaged food? Do they eat meat? (If they do, they aren't green enough or healthy enough and if they don't they're elitists.) How many of their calories come from anti oxidants? Has their home been tested for radon? Do they eat twinkies? Do they have a flow of urine that meets our standards?
You are way out on a limb here buddy.
OH MY GOD. Are you kidding me? For once in my life, I'm actually at a loss for words.
So basically, if you are black you can never be president because A) you probably attended a black church, B) you probably have black friends who went to the Million Man March, C) you dress well (elitist), and D) you have a shorter life expectancy...
But none of these disqualifiers have anything to do with being black...
Are you serious Mr. Stier? What were YOU smoking when you wrote this?
I was sure this guy was just trying to replicate Andy Borowitz's success with this post, but I think he might actually be serious.
Crazy.
I found your column interesting. But let me assure you, as a respiratory care practitioner, though all smoking causes damage, this type of history is very responsive to quitting.
When a smoker stops they most likely experience an immediate (within 3 days) drop in blood pressure, heart rate, elimination of nicotine and carbon monoxide. The lungs immediately begin the cleansing and healing process. Nicotine constricts blood vessels making you more vulnerable to a heart attack or stroke, but once it clears the system the immediate risk is reduced a great deal. Even long term 30 and 40 pack year (number of packs X number of years = pack years) smokers can reduce their chance of heart attack by 50% by quitting. It is never too late to quit.
Many presidents have smoked, and the most recent ones smoked cigars and pipes including Bill Clinton, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, and John Kennedy. Carter, Reagan and Bush didn't smoke. But, if you want to look at long term health effects of habits, Bush had quite a number of years of drinking, Clinton was overweight as was Johnson. If you look hard enough you will find something objectionable in nearly anyone's physical history.
Smoking is only an issue for voters because it has now become socially unacceptable.
Let's see, we didn't have any trouble electing a VP who had four heart attacks. Next step, let's make sure that candidates are vetted for serum cholesterol level, blood pressure, medications, and weight. By the time you take all that into account, all you have is George Bush. How about vetting them for brains and spirit?
"How about vetting them for brains and spirit."
Wow!!! That was good! I wish I'd thought of that.
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