50 Barack H. Obama: The Unauthorized BiographyObama’s quarter century of smoking may have impacted his health: the conclusion is that Obama
may well have more health problems than John McCain. Stier writes: “So how long and how much
did Sen. Obama smoke? The information has not been officially released, and the campaign has not
returned calls or emails posing this question. But he smoked a lot over his life. He admits to having
smoked up to ten cigarettes a day, but usually closer to five or six. Most people underestimate how
much they smoke, but let’s take him at his word. Let’s also assume he really did quit when he said
he did, in February 2007 (although he admits to having fallen off the wagon). That’s about twenty-
six years, given that we know he was smoking by the time he was a freshman at Occidental College.
That’s more than 55,000 — maybe 70,000 cigarettes! Has this aspect of Sen. Obama’s ability to
serve really been explored? Just because he’s young, looks great, and exercises doesn’t mean he’s
healthy. Recall Jim Fixx. An overweight smoker when he turned his life around at thirty-five, Fixx
became the icon of fitness. He quit smoking and started running. Then he died in 1984 at age fifty-
three — while running. Sen. Obama, while not overweight, smoked a lot longer than Jim Fixx did.
And while the stresses of running may have contributed to Fixx’s death, it was his years of
smoking, not his running, that caused the plaque to build up in his arteries. Doctors say the stress of
being president may in fact exceed the stress of running. And it’s an unhealthier kind of stress. The
public deserves to know how long and how much Sen. Obama really smoked. Does he have other
risk factors for heart disease? Compared to whites, for instance, African-Americans are more likely
to die of a stroke, according to the American Heart Association. This, in fact, is probably the only
time race is a legitimate question to raise this campaign season — and just one of several health
question on voters’ minds.” (Jeff Stier, Obama’s Health, April 19, 2008) McCain, we see, may be
in better health than Obama, despite appearances.
Smoking is subject to an ineffable taboo in the rich elitist, affluent suburbanite, academic, and
global warming circles which provide Obama’s base of support, so he has striven to hide his
horrible dirty vice from public view. Pictures showing Obama smoking have been greeted with
unalloyed horror by Obama’s backers. However, the candidate has confessed that he has gone back
to puffing his coffin nails as a result of the stress of the campaign trail. One reporter who penetrated
Obama’s terrible secret, despite his evasive action, was the perceptive Jake Tapper, who exposed
the issue in April 2008: ‘As any close friend or family member can attest, I have an unusually keen
sense of smell and immediately I smelled cigarette smoke on Obama. Frankly, he reeked of
cigarettes. Obama ran off before I could ask him if he’d just snuck a smoke, so I called his
campaign. They denied it. He’d quit months before, in February [2007], they insisted. He chewed
nicorette. But I knew what I’d smelled and I asked his campaign to double-check and to ask him if
he’d had a cigarette. They reported back that he had told them he hadn’t had a cigarette since he
quit. And maybe that was true. Maybe I imagined the cigarette smoke. My olfactory nerve
somehow misfired. Except....last night on MSNBC’s Hardball, Obama admitted that his attempt to
wean himself from the vile tobacco weed had not been entirely successful. “I fell off the wagon a
couple times during the course of it, and then was able to get back on,” he said. “But it is a struggle
like everything else.”’ (Jake Tapper, “Obama is Smokin’,” abcnews.com, April 3, 2008) Because of
the importance of the presidency, it is imperative that all candidates release their medical records,
including the results of any mental health treatments and of any and all HIV testing.
THE LOST YEARS AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY:
OBAMA’S WALL OF SECRECY
Obama’s years at Columbia University between 1981 and 1983 constitute the greatest single
mystery of his life. From the point of view of all available biographical material published and in