What motivation do, um, motivated smokers have in their arsenal to kick the habit? They need look no further than the efforts of the President (-Elect) of the United States, Barack Obama.

He told Tom Brokaw of NBC several weeks ago, for example, that he “had stopped” but that “there are times where I’ve fallen off the wagon.” He promised to obey the no-smoking rules in the White House, but whether that meant he would be ducking out the back door for a smoke is not known. His transition team declined to answer any questions about his smoking, past or present, or his efforts to quit.Antismoking activists would love to see him use his bully pulpit to inspire others to join him in trying to kick the habit, but he has not yet taken up their cause.

An interesting history of those Commanders-In-Chief who were defined, in part, by the stogies they nursed, in the NYT.

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