Presidential candidate Barack Obama open admits that he smokes. Even though presidential candidate Barack Obama smokes he is actively trying to quit and speaks publicly about his addiction to nicotine in an effort to keep others from starting smoking just because he does. His opponents are using Barack Obama’s smoking addiction against him to say that he is not qualified to be president because he smokes but he is still very popular with people so that accusation hasn’t damaged his campaign so far. People who smoke or used to smoke can related to his struggle to quitt and can understand why Barack Obama smokes.

Why Does Barack Obama Smoke?

Barak Obama has been a smoker for awhile. It was never really an issue until he decided to run for President of the United States. Any candidate for the presidency is put under intense scrutiny and any bad habit or offhand remark can be enough to damage their campaign for political office. Pictures of Barack Obama smoking have been in the media but so far have not really damaged his credibility. Most people are not going to base their choice of presidential candidate on whether or not that person smokes. Most serious publications have not published Barack Obama smoking pictures but they are easy to find on the Internet because many people have them posted on their fan sites and blogs. Many opponents of Barack Obama post them saying that Barack Obama can never be president because Barack Obama does smoke cigarettes.

Why He’s Quitting Smoking

Besides the fact that smoking can kill you, Barack Obama is quitting smoking because it’s better for his campaign. Even though this is undoubtedly a very stressful time for him when he probably enjoys a cigarette the fact is that he needs to quit smoking to present the kind of image necessary to win the Democratic nomination for President. If he show the commitment and will power to quit smoking it will show the American people that he really does have the moral character to handle being president. Barack Obama is the first African American candidate for president who has a serious chance of winning a major party nomination and he wants to do everything possible to make sure he gets the nomination over some of his competitors like Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. With both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama having a very strong chance of winning the nomination it seems that this upcoming election will be a record breaker.