Michelle Obama: Barack Has Quit Smoking

After a Highly-Publicized Battle with Nicotine Addiction, President Obama Has Not Smoked in a Year, First Lady Says

CBS News/ Associated Press
February 8, 2011

First lady Michelle Obama says the president has quit smoking.

The first lady says her husband has not smoked in almost a year. She said it is a personal challenge for him and she is very proud.

Michelle Obama made the comments in an interview with reporters at the White House on Tuesday. She said the president has always wanted to quit.

The president himself has discussed his struggles with nicotine addiction, acknowledging in June 2009 that he still sneaked the occasional puff. The White House last addressed the topic in December, when Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he hadn't seen Obama smoke in months but stopped short of asserting that he had quit.

"It was a commitment that I think he made to himself at the end of the health care and with his two daughters in mind," Gibbs said on CNN's "State of the Union."

In 2007, Michelle Obama insisted that her husband quit smoking as a precondition for a White House run. The senator agreed.

By his own admission, Obama slipped repeatedly in 2008 and 2009. It seems 2010 was the year he finally got his habit under control.