WASHINGTON — President Obama has finally done what millions of fellow Americans are still struggling to achieve – he’s given up smoking.

“Yes, he has,” Michelle Obama said Tuesday at the White House when asked whether her husband had conquered a nicotine habit that began as a teenager.

“It’s been almost a year,” she said, offering no details on exactly when or how he quit.

But is the breakup with tobacco final?

One in five adults, about 46 million people, still smoke, and brain research shows nicotine is powerfully addictive. Three out of four smokers who try to kick the habit relapse within six months, and repeated attempts often are required to quit long term, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Obama, who has one of the world’s most stressful jobs, has walked this tobacco road before. He announced in February 2008, during his presidential campaign, that he was quitting smoking – again.

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“He’s always wanted to stop,” Michele Obama said Tuesday. She said he wants to be able to look daughters Malia, 12, and Sasha, 9, in the eye and deny that he smokes should they ask.

The issue of Obama’s smoking last surfaced in December, when White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was asked about it and said he had “not seen or witnessed evidence of any smoking in probably nine months.” At the time, Gibbs stopped short of asserting that Obama had quit completely.

The White House offered no details Tuesday, adhering to its practice of trying to keep the issue out of the spotlight.

Obama last addressed the question in June 2009. Before signing a tough anti-smoking law designed to keep millions of teens from getting hooked, Obama ruefully admitted that he had spent his adult life trying to give up cigarettes.

Obama said he didn’t smoke in front of his kids or other family and had declared himself “95 percent cured.” But he also acknowledged times “where I mess up.”

“Once you’ve gone down this path, then it’s something you continually struggle with,” he said.

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Obama has said he used to light up about five times a day, although stress sometimes drove him to smoke more often. He promised his wife he’d quit if she agreed he should run for president.

“I hate it,” Michelle Obama told CBS’ “60 Minutes” early in the campaign. “That’s why he doesn’t do it anymore, I’m proud to say. I outed him – I’m the one who outed him on the smoking.”

She said one of her requirements for entering the race was that “he couldn’t be a smoking president.”

Based on her comments Tuesday, he is no longer that.

She said she was proud of him, but had not pressed him for details. “When somebody’s doing the right thing I don’t mess with them,” she said.

Obama has used nicotine gum in his quest to quit smoking. During the presidential campaign, aides filled their pockets with the gum to help Obama control his urges. He occasionally bummed cigarettes from staff, while making sure to emphasize that he was trying to quit for good.

 


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