The smokin' president

Look, for the record, I know smoking is bad, bad, bad! I know it kills an estimated 438,000 Americans a year. I know the EPA classifies secondhand smoke as a carcinogen responsible for an additional 50,000 or so deaths every year. I know that in April, when a Tennessee man wrote to you about his father's death from smoking and asked you not to smoke for the sake of your own daughters, you sent him back a handwritten note thanking him for the advice. (I don't expect you to thank me for my advice, much less heed it.)

But I'll say it again: We could use some vulnerability, some flaws, some evidence that you have failings like the rest of us or are capable of, you know ... angst. As far as I can tell, the only publicly released photographs of you smoking are from the series taken when you were a freshman at Occidental -- the ones where you're in a bomber jacket and Panama hat, looking all "Super Fly" (but also kind of dorky).

Are we supposed to see them as the "before" pictures to your indomitable, unassailable, borderline beatific "after"? Are we supposed to read about the beach-ready abs, the saintly eating habits, the way the White House Easter Egg Roll got turned into an exercise and healthy eating event (the kids could do yoga for God's sake!) and believe you've left that Panama hat behind for good? Are we supposed to hear about your daily "Michelle time" without imagining that you might occasionally indulge the kind of "me time" that only a cigarette, vile scourge though it may be, can provide?

Don't do it, Mr. President. Don't sacrifice your soul for your image. Don't try to be superhuman; it only causes idol-worship fatigue.

Instead, show us you're real. Light up just once and let a photographer catch you. Don't look at the camera, just appear to be deep in thought, as if you're solving the Middle East crisis right then and there. Just once, why not let us see you being less than perfect. Make it your last cigarette: It ought to satisfy enough cravings to last forever.

Sincerely,

The American People

(at least one of them.)