There's a rumor floating around the intarweb -- one that I haven't bothered Googling for confirmation, mind you -- that Obama's a smoker. Some of my friends have expressed more dismay at the smoking allegation than to his admission he did coke in college.

Me? Not so much. While I do believe Smoking Is Very Bad for You, I'm okay him going where the flavor is. It shows a rebellious streak, a small exercise of personal liberty, a tiny metaphorical flip-off to the idea of the granola left wing. I like a touch of the contrary in presidental candidates.

Smoking shouldn't be as dismaying as coke use. One's legal, though kind of smelly and disgusting. One involves both the phrase "now we add the gasoline" and being smuggled into the country via swallowed Trojans.

It's not even a contest.