I thought this was a free country "y" does the president have to quit smoking?

Sweet Pea

i agree... i dont think he should have to (i actually havent heard of this yet so im taking your word on it), but i can understand how they could want a current president as a good role model for the country. (and if that's the case, i would be a closet smoker)

kaadish

He is completely free to continue to smoke, but he is trying be a good role model. The truth is that smoking has a huge stigma attached to it. The majority of Americans think smoking is bad or disgusting or whatever.

lzdelga

because its a bad influence to teens and children seeing thier president smoke and then having their parents at home telling them not to smoke.

EmiSaint

The white house and the whole property is non smoking. He will have to leave the premises to smoke a cigarette. Seems easier to just quit doesn't it. Also, he said he was quitting so the media is all up on him becuase it seems like a broken promise.

Automation Wizard

I don't care if he dies from lung cancer.

SFC_Ollie

I quit smoking when I was told it would kill me. That smoking was bad for my life. The only intelligent thing to do when you know this is to quit. Obnama will not or cannot quit, thus he must not be as intelligent as I am. It also makes you wonder if he cannot quit smoking how did he quit using cocaine?

SFC
US Army
Retired

RomeyM

lmao @ libs like you. It was just a few years ago you libs were crying people who smoke are disgusting that is the nastiest habit anyone could have we want it banned from all areas we don't want to die from second hand smoke, you people are disgusting!! Now you are defending smokers rights?

You people kill me, seriously, rotfl!

quinn dog

his smoking is the least of my concerns about him....

Jareth Cutestory

Obviously the President is held to different standards than the rest of us civilians. I'm not going to preach to you about quitting, because I am myself a smoker, but for Obama, or for anyone in such a position, it is part of his image. Smoking can be a sign of weakness, and quitting as a sign of strength. It doesn't matter that tons of other powerful people smoke, but seeing the President as a smoker conveys something different. It is also a health choice, and something that is a good message to send to our citizens, many of whom need such a message.

Des-n-Jes

He is not required to quit smoking. He is not, however, allowed to smoke in the white house, or on the white house lawn.

John C Calhoun

SHHHHH! You're ruining the internet for everyone else.

crazyskater2716

It's free because we can choose our job and religion. The seat belt is for safety because the government doesn't want us dying. the president shouldn't smoke because little kids that want to be president see him as a role model and they would think it would be good to smoke. plus it kills people and what if he dies from something? it can happen, trust me.

coling

That's what all the smokers in California thought too.
How wrong they were! LOL

things like seat belts are for your safety. and smoking is horrible for your health. you can still do it but its only cutting your life short. the president-ELECT doesn't need to stop smoking but if he wants to lead by example, the better example for the american public isn't someone that smokes

Robin

he doesn't except as caving to the left wing moralists

rollo_tomassi423

He doesn't have to quit. But he should quit, and he knows it. He is not perfect.

Romare

Good point. He doesn't. It seems Michele made him promise to do it if he ran for president, and he is trying mightily.

blahsblahjunk

You're making the same mistake I did when I was nine: Free country does NOT mean you can do whatever you want. Freedom of speech doesn't mean you can yell "FIRE" or "GUN" in a crowded restaurant or room.
The reason you have to wear a seatbelt is because when the paramedics have to spend half an hour cleaning your flat, gooey carcass off the road, it blocks up traffic for the rest of us. If they can pull your mostly-together body out of the driver's seat in five minutes, it helps the rest of us not be late for work. Plus, it's easier on the coroners and the person who has to identify your body.
And you're allowed to smoke, absolutely. In your own house. You can't smoke in public places because smoking is proven to irritate the eyes, lungs, and mucus linings of the respiratory system, and that's just the short-term effects. Forcing people to choose between breathing toxins and never eating out again is wrong. Imagine if every time you went into a restaurant or bar you ran the risk of getting doused in smelly gasoline. Will it kill you? No. Does it make for a pleasant experience? Again, no.
The president is not allowed to smoke because at any given time he's surrounded by secret service agents, people who work very hard to keep their bodies in top condition and wouldn't appreciate smoke all through their hair and clothes and lungs. He can't smoke in the white house because lots of other people live and work there, too. And, he will only live there for a short time and the next president might not appreciate his new home reeking of cigarettes.
And they do reek. My mother-in-law smokes and I can only be in her house a few hours at a time. Even 20 minutes in her house makes my eyes and throat burn, and my nose is plugged for the rest of the day. Even after getting the carpets and drapes professionally cleaned, the smell never quite dissipates. My father and I used to think my little sister was smoking in the bathroom, because sometimes we could clearly smell cigarettes in the house. But it happened when she wasn't there, too. Turns out, the people before us had smoked. After a year of their absence, you could still smell it plainly sometimes.
So it doesn't make smokers bad people, but it does annoy the people around them, make it difficult for non-smoking friends and relatives to visit, bring down the value of their homes, and lessen the lifespan of their spouses and children.
We'll never have a curfew because it's too hard to enforce and there really isn't a reason for one. Companies that are open all night and beer manufacturers who depend on late-night revenue will never let it happen. As for only being allowed to have one kid, it might happen. You know, when homelessness spirals out of control and we start running out of food and energy. But actually, populations in civilized countries are decreasing. People with brains are figuring out that kids are expensive and are waiting to have them until later in life, when they actually have the money to raise them.
What they should do is, instead of forcing people to have fewer kids, quit giving people tax cuts and welfare increases for having kids. That's nothing but counter-productive.

Ryuzaki

Never heard this. That's so stupid =

H.A

Obama is going to be the president
every president has to be a rule to Model to his people.
by the way, seat belt is very important for your safety

Michelle C

Well, it's not a law that he can't smoke. However, the president is expected to be a model citizen, especially when that president can be as influential as Obama has already become. Personally, I think that people should worry more about the policies he plans to make more than his personal life, but smoking has become an enemy of the average American idealist, and Obama is one of those people who others might look up to. Obama has every right to smoke, it just looks bad for his rep. As for the seat-belt thing, that is just a precaution for your own good...Sure, it's your own God-given right to decide whether or not you need to be safe, but other people would have to clean up the mess from your body and explain to your family that you died because you didn't feel like strapping yourself in.

Chess Jock

Dude, way to totally over-react! Think about this... Smoking in the Whitehouse... all our historical artifacts permeated with the smell of cigarette smoke! Hmm.... good or bad? Not too mention, it is well known that smoking is a bad habit, else why would everyone try to quit all the time? So isn't his trying to quit a good thing? I think so... at the very least it shows that he cares enough about his new job to try to change himself for the better, in my opinion.
Seriously, you are way over-reacting about this... it has been a long standing law that you can't smoke in the Whitehouse, and why would we change it for one guy? Don't give me that crap about "this is the fore-runner of the end of the public's rights," or having curfews and that stuff! Are you serious! As much as a disagree with most of Obama's views, I don't think he's Hitler!!

VIOLATION NATION INVASION

there is no such thing as a free country anymore sadly any way, its the presedent so whos gonna have the bals to tell him not to, and if they do, NUKE EM.

flamboyant for life

Well hes not allowed to smoke in the white house thanks to Hillary Clinton.

jakflak

It is a free country, which is why he's CHOOSING to quit.

Lotus

He does have the right to smoke. It's just that it's a negative image to see a public figure smoking. Many people subconsciusly see that and beleive it's okay, especially young adults and teeneagers who are developing there own ideas of what's right and wrong. As a consience president, he probably does not want that for the American youth. He is also mainly doing for his health, and that of his daughters and wife. Smoking is known to be a very life threatening thing, so kudos for him for deciding to quit. don't critizise him and how he is "losing his rights" by quitting smoking. many other presidents smoked, so it is not a rights issue.

As for the seat belts, yes it should be your right to chose whether or not you want to wear them, but what if someone gets into an accidental car crash with another person and the one not wearing there seat belt dies? although it is not the other surviving person's fault, there is still immense guilt that will follow that person around. However, that is not the main issue about seat belts at all, what it really is is that many parents were letting there kids drive in cars without there seat belts on. if the kids parents never inforce the fact that they have to wear seatbelts, then they probably won't when thay grow up. In theory when parents don't tell there kids to wear seatbelts, they are risking there child's right to a life.

If they ever try to say that you can only have one child (which will never happen because they know it won't work), then yes, that is a huge rights issue, and hopefully there would be some sort of revolution.

Stop spending

We are not a free country. Tax, and morality laws are not freedom. We have freedom of speech. We are all indentured servants to the government.

Julius C.

I smoke too - BUT he has to quit because he made a deal with his wife to quit if he became POTUS.

If you can think of a higher order of law then keeping a promise to your wife I want to hear about it... and will you tell my wife?

mrsalireid

We are not a free country. We are not a democracy. The people do not make the rules. We are a Democratic Republic and we elect Representatives who make the decisions. If enough special interest groups, lobbyists and corporations decide to push an issue they usually win, even if they are not the majority.

For instance, cigarettes. The American Lung Association and Cancer Society have pushed the Surgeon General for years. That is why we have the warnings on the cigarettes. The same groups as well as other conservative entities had Joe Camel removed in advertising. The premise was Joe was marketed at children. You are not allowed to tell children that smoking is cool.

And with Obama, the same is true. He is being asked to quit to set an example to our nation's youth that smoking is not ok.

superaaron_82

Its all about image

Zoey G

If you think about it , there's no such thing as a free country.
And i doubt there will ever be a truly free country .
If egos remain loose and dominate societies then no good could come of that .
ego is a dysfunction , it's symptoms are Fear,Power,Hypocrisy ..etc

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