In a recent Tom Brokaw interview, President-elect Barack Obama admitted that there were still times when he smoked, saying that while he had quit, there were still times when he has “fallen off the wagon.”

Image Credit: Jerry Paffendorf

For his health, I hope he manages to quit, which is unlikely given the high-stress job he has recently acquired. For the sake of the country, I hope he keeps lighting up now and then. If he does it without the country finding out, so much the better.

Having a secret habit ties him to the great leader of our history, shows his political skill, humanizes him, and reminds us of the importance of personal freedom.

There is a strong argument to be made that Presidents who cheat make better leaders. Washington, Jefferson and Franklin all had affairs. In the twentieth century, FDR, JFK and Eisenhower all had mistresses, and they were among the century’s best leaders. On the other hand, Andrew Jackson, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush did not, and they are among the worst presidents in our history.

With the scandal caused by Clinton’s semi-affair with Monica Lewinsky, as well as the recent political collapses of Eliot Spitzer and John Edwards, having an extramarital fling has become much more dangerous politically than it was a generation ago. Where previous politicians could be reasonably sure there actions would either not go reported or be shrugged off as standard behavior, modern politicians risk everything when they cheat on their spouses.

Obama’s smoking is the modern equivalent of cheating. It reduces his stress, it’s something that many people frown upon, and it’s something he had to keep secret during the campaign. By having his own dirty little secret, Obama shows that he possesses the same traits that previous great leaders have tapped into during their presidencies.

One test of a politicians skill is whether they get caught cheating. I imagine that most politicians (and probably most people) have something in their life or their past that they would prefer to keep secret. Good politicians can hide things. Great politicians can hide big things. The fact that Obama went through the entire campaign without his smoking becoming an issue shows that he has good political skills (if he had great skill we would have found out about the habit 15 years after he left office- but that’s hard to do these days). If Clinton or McCain had gotten wind of his continuing habit, they would have had a cigarette in his mouth in every attack ad they ran, and it might well have had an impact. Instead, Obama managed to deflect the issue until after he was elected, and now it’s too late to do anything about it.

There were times when Obama struggled in relating to voters, particularly blue collar workers in industrial states. Hillary Clinton famously demolished him in states like West Virginia by relating better to a lower income, lower education voting bloc. Obama was painted as elitist, despite the fact that his opponents graduated from Harvard Law and the Naval Academy, neither or which are safety schools.

The revelation that he has struggled for years to quit smoking and still occasionally lights up could help. It is humanizing to see another person wrestle with the same addiction that many Americans fight every day. It shows that Obama is not an aloof, near-alien figure who merely walks across any water between him and his next political victory. He is human, and he struggles with the same things we do.

Finally, the fact that Obama smokes reminds everyone of one fact that so often slips our collective minds: It’s supposed to be a free country.

Anti-smoking advocates have made tremendous ‘progress’ in outlawing smoking. Many cities have ordinances banning smoking in private businesses like bars and restaurants. It is nearly illegal to smoke in New York City, period. Advocates point to smoking’s terrible long-term effects on health, second-hand smoke (which is a myth, according to Penn and Teller’s Bullshit and others) and smoking’s general unpleasantness.

This corresponds with a disturbing political perspective that favors government intervention over individual liberty.

I would have been impressed if Obama managed to keep his secret through his Presidency, but now that the secret is out, he has an opportunity to stand against government meddling in individual freedom. There is a strict NO SMOKING policy in effect at the White House. I would love to see him either reverse the policy, or simply ignore it. If a man can’t smoke in the privacy of his own home, how can we claim to be a free country? The White House is now Obama’s home, and he should be able to smoke there if he so pleases.

As long as he doesn’t do it when I’m around. Smoke makes my eyes hurt.