Obama Signs Anti-Smoking Bill

(Photos/Lisa Jack)

From the Associated Press:

President Barack Obama cited his own long struggle to quit the cigarettes he got hooked on as a teenager as he signed the nation's strongest-ever anti-smoking bill Monday and praised it for providing critically needed protections for kids.

"The decades-long effort to protect our children from the harmful effects of tobacco has emerged victorious," Obama said at a signing ceremony in the White House Rose Garden.

The bill marks the latest legislative victory for Obama's first five months. Among his other successes: a $787 billion economic stimulus bill, legislation to expand a state program providing children's health insurance and a bill making it easier for workers to sue for pay discrimination.

Wait a minute....

The $787 billion economic stimulus bill was a victory?

Yes, Obama managed to get it passed; but the stimulus has been a miserable failure.

Does AP writer Philip Elliot really expect us to swallow that as a victory?

And the legislation expanding children's health insurance also raised taxes for some families making less than $250,000 -- another promise broken by Obama. That's a victory worth mentioning? I don't think so.

The president has frequently spoken, in the White House and on the campaign trail, of his own struggles to quit smoking. He brought it up during Monday's ceremony while criticizing the tobacco industry for marketing its products to young people.

Obama said almost 90 percent of people who smoke began at age 18 or younger, snared in a dangerous and hard-to-kick habit.

"I know — I was one of these teenagers," Obama said. "So I know how difficult it can be to break this habit when it's been with you for a long time."

That reminds me. Obama never has released his medical records. Oh, the transparency!

Before dozens of invited guests, including children from the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, the president signed legislation giving the Food and Drug Administration unprecedented authority to regulate tobacco.

Obama accused the tobacco industry of targeting young people, exposing them to a "constant and insidious barrage of advertising where they live, where they learn and where they play. Most insidiously, they are offered products with flavorings that mask the taste of tobacco and make it even more tempting."

The new law bans candy and fruit flavors in tobacco products, and it limits advertising that could attract young people.

The tobacco industry should not target young people, in its advertising or through "kid-friendly" products.

But let's have some personal responsibility here.

Obama started smoking AFTER warning labels were on all packs of cigarettes (unless he began the habit before he was in kindergarten).

Is there anyone who doesn't know what smoking does to one's body?

Smokers aren't victims. They're exercising their personal freedom. They know what they're doing.

...The law won't let the FDA ban nicotine or tobacco outright.

"It is a law that will save American lives," Obama said.

That may be, and saving lives is good. Of course.

The thing is a law isn't necessary to save Americans from tobacco-related illnesses.

All Americans have to do is not smoke. Don't start. That's easy to do. Really, REALLY easy.

Obama could have made that choice. He didn't. He chose smoking over doing what he could to safeguard his health. Not smart.