President Obama is stupid (my doctor said so)
It took my wife's pregnancy and my blunt doctor to get me to quit smoking.
My wife told me the day before Father's Day 2008 that she was expecting our first child. I vowed then that I would stop smoking, that I would stop sneaking around and pretending no one noticed my bad habit. I'd made such promises before. I made that promise before I got married, before I assumed parental responsibilities for my wife's two daughters, now teenagers. Still, I didn't quit. I only smoke when I drank, of course. Except for those few I snuck at work. And on the way to work. And on the way home from work. I thought I was kidding people. I thought people didn't know. And I was lying to myself and everyone around me, and fooling no one. For a cigarette.
Then, on July 11, I had a routine physical exam, and my doctor, who had never met me before, asked me if I smoked. I didn't lie to him. I said yes.
"So, you're stupid," he said.
I wasn't accustomed to such unpleasantries. But I had no comeback. The best I could come up with was, "Well, it's not my smartest habit."
No, the doctor said, it's stupid. As in unintelligent. As in dumb.
And, as if he needed to, my doctor rattled off everything we all know about the hazards of cigarette smoking. You've read it before. You don't need me to recite it here the way my doctor recited it to me. Shortened life expectancy. Decreased quality of life. The physical stench of your presence. Don't kid yourself. Everyone knows you smoke. Sure, it's a free country, and you have the right to smoke if you want to. I'm not disputing that. It's just stupid. My doctor said so.
I keep thinking back to that picture of President Obama, some time back, with a cigarette in his mouth, along with that empty promise he made not to break the White House rules against smoking. Smokers have made promises like that before. I won't smoke at all, unless... unless I'm drinking. Unless I'm away from home. Unless I'm really stressed. Unless I'm...
Stupid, my doctor said.
"But I figure, seeing as I'm running for president, I need to cut myself a little slack," he said last year.
Stupid, my doctor said. You're not cutting yourself slack. You're selling yourself short. Now that you actually are president, what's your excuse? Too much free time? Not enough to keep yourself occupied?
President Obama took office with an enormous amount of goodwill behind him. I submit a public decision to quit, coming from him, would have a profound effect on many lives.
I can think of two in particular.
Are you smarter than a U.S. President? Prove it. Quit smoking. Visit Tobacco Free Florida for details, or just talk to your doctor. Tell him you're serious this time. And mean it.
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