US President Barack Obama said on Monday that he
stopped smoking out of fear of his wife, in an unwitting
admission captured by a loose microphone.
The US leader, taking part in an event on the sidelines of
the annual UN General Assembly on the importance of civil
society, was exchanging small talk at the end of his
remarks.
In a recording taped by CNN, Obama is standing up after
the event and asking the man next to him if he had given
up smoking.
When the question is returned to him, Obama, in a light-
hearted tone with a smile on his lips, said: “I haven’t had a
cigarette in probably six years. That’s because I’m scared of
my wife.”
Usually known for his fit figure and healthy lifestyle, Obama
has long had a weakness for cigarettes and depicted
himself as a smoker in his memoir of his youth, Dreams From
My Father.
Obama’s smoking habit and his efforts to quit became
favourite topics in the US media from the time he started
his campaign for the White House in the 2008 election.
In his first year in office, Obama described himself as “95
per cent cured” from smoking but admitted he has
occasionally “fallen off the wagon” in his efforts.
In December 2010, then White House spokesman Robert
Gibbs said that Obama had not smoked for nine months and
had been “stubborn” in trying to quit, despite the stress of
the job.
First lady Michelle Obama, a campaigner for public health,
has been open about her distaste for her husband’s smoking
but said that he never lit up in front of their two daughters.
In February 2011, she said that the president had not
smoked for a year and that she was not giving him a hard
time about the issue.
“When somebody’s doing the right thing, you don’t mess
with them,” she said. [AFP]
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