Obama's Miserable Pandering

porkbelly

For a minute I had thought this was to be genuine, substantive criticism of Obama...but no, of course not.

Shane Glackin

Eek, you sure about this one Alex? Plenty of people are rightly ashamed of their drinking or gambling, both of which are equally legal. And BHO is a noted gym bunny; you can stress the rational defensibility of smoking all you like without pretending there's no reason a fitness nut might regret his proclivity to do so...

Major Plonquer

It is a universal truth that many restaurants worldwide still have 'No Smoking' sections. Yet I have still to find a restaurant - even in the environmental heaven that is California - that prohibits farting.

Most people don't realise that gaseous emissions from digestive tracts do far more damage to the envirnoment than all the smokers in China.

But it will be years before we see the first restaurant in Jolly Green Islington endorsing a No Farting section.

Disgraceful.

logdon

Had this comment been in CiF your server would be down by now, reduced to an abstract, smouldering and fizzing wired blob.

Those smug self righteously opinionated meddlers whose ire knows no bounds when confronted by an ‘issue’ would have a field day.

There has, in recent years been a growth in the equivalent of curtain twitchers, who whilst rejecting that definition with self regarding outrage, are in fact the very epitome of the syndrome.

They are the new Col Blimps of moral guardianship who seem to revel in sticking the oar in at any and every opportunity.

So assured of their own state of non smoking, holy grace and as they'll constantly and smugly remind, backed by government edict, they obviously feel that they have a perfect right to lecture and harangue.

Isn’t it ironic that these harridans of either sex would jump on you like a ton of bricks if you ventured an opinion on say, immigration, whereby accusations would be hurled, versed in the most excruciating cliché of ‘judgmentalism’ and all the rest of the self perpetuating armoury of jargon they can dredge up from brainwashed minds. Of course their own ‘judgmental’ opinions are exempt from this criticism.

They are the Pavlov Dogs of society, knee jerking through a tick box life where Joi De Vivre is the latest scent by Calvin Klein and genuine freedom is a puzzling enigma.

As you may gather, I smoke. In fact I’m pretty incandescent when confronted by these soulless numpties.

I’d bet that in a roll call of Labour MP’s 90% will be non smokers. They fit that Stakhanovite profile to a T. In their minds it’s ok to thieve as much as they can lay hands on from us peasants but woe betide if any of us light up in their presence.

They, after all, must get priorities right.

Redvers

Unbelievable.

Your first recorded criticism of Obama, and you pick on this. Perhaps, Alex, Obama is genuinely ashamed of his addiction. I know this makes no sense on Planet Massie, but try to consider it as a possibility.

Rhoda Klapp

Logdon. Yeah, cos there is no place for smug self-righteous opinions on Alex Massie's blog.

mckenzie

Execute people who smoke. Now.

sarah

Obama is dangerous to Israel's aspirations. It is good to find a home here in the UK that understands this and promotes Israel so completely and browbeats Obama across the board, so that people realise why he is the wrong man at the wrong time, as his stand against Israel so completely proves.

jon

He avoided answering the question of whether he is a daily smoker, which he most probably is. The President shouldn't be so defensive. I like the attitude of the manager of the Croatian football team, who, when told all his team were smoking cigarette with their morning coffee, replied that it couldn't be doing them much harm as they had all become international footballers. Come on Barack, you are the man. You do just what you want. It's a perk of the job.

Sarah

Thank-you Alex for stating the so obviously obvious (in this anti dominated, vested-interested world that we live in).

It can only be Hitler arising. Never in my life (some 68 years of it) have I heard such rubbish from people who just hate something so much that they create scientic studies to prove it.

The Naxis didn't win the war, put they were very clever to infiltrate our politics and are certainly winning now.

Although ABC is perfectly legal, we only wish to you live by XYZ. We will denormalise and criminalise everyone who lives along the ABC lifestyle - JUST BECAUSE WE DON'T LIKE IT AND WE HAVE MONEY AND POWER - HAHAHAHAHA!

david

Perhaps it is no coincidence that the war on smokers intensified when nicotine replacement therapy appeared on the market. With a documented 'successful' quit rate of only 1.6% of all UK smokers on NRT after 12 months, it seems that pharmaceutical companies stand to gain most benefit from their products. It is hardly surprising that this industry invests vast sums in research designed to encourage continual and repeat use of these virtually useless(and, in the case of Champix, potentially dangerous)drugs.

flex

Sounds like a lame duck president who feel the need to be ashamed to be a smoker.
Is that the same lame duck president who recently admitted to be addicted to a chewing gum laced with nicotine?

Barry Homan

Look, let's all face facts: anti-smokers belong to one or more of 3 basic categories - the Small, the Sad, and the Ugly.

The next time you light up, observe your agressor: he/she isn't exactly a prize-winner among the socially-hip, isn't that right? It's always the person who doesn't have much reward out of life other to critisize others, thereby wining some sort of feeble superiority/domination fix.

We know these people when we see them: typical trademarks are funny hairstyles (or no hair at all), glasses, squinty eyes, oatmeal complexions...zero peronality, zero communication...flawed, uninspired existences with very little to offer given the moment - not exactly the movers and shakers within social settings.

You know I'm right. Once political correctness has fizzled out, we'll all be back to normal.