It’s like a metaphor for this administration: President Barack Obama is blaming a problem on outside forces, when in reality it’s probably due to his own bad choices. In this particular case, the problem is his kid’s asthma, the outside force is global warming, and his own bad choice is not quitting smoking. USA Today, of all places, unpacks this for us:
Whether there is a link between asthma and global warming, Malia herself hasn’t really experienced much. The high school junior was born in 1998, when temperatures spiked. By some measurements, the world hasn’t warmed significantly since then.
Which brings us back to her father and his Marlboros. The president, who quit smoking years ago, has long kept his tobacco use out of doors. That’s a common-sense tactic for folks who have trouble quitting. But sometimes, science can show that common sense has less sense than you think.
Turns out that people who smoke outside still come inside smelling of tobacco – to say nothing of leaving clouds of tobacco smoke in the area, which may not actually disperse all that quickly. Also turns out that kids can react strongly to that. Also turns out that the President still hasn’t quit, but, heck, we knew that already.
Look, I know that quitting smoking can be a nightmare for some people. I haven’t had a cigarette in a decade, and I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop. And I am not a tobacco Nazi. But if President Obama really wants to do something about his kid’s asthma, he should start acting locally instead of thinking globally. The man has access to entire government agencies full of medical personnel. I for one will not begrudge him using those resources to quit smoking.
(H/T Instapundit)
Moe Lane (crosspost)
PS: Also from the USA Today: hey, by the way, our air quality has gotten insanely better since 1980. Despite the fact that energy use, population, and travel have all increased and/or skyrocketed since then. Why do you never hear about that? Probably because it’s disruptive of the We’re All Gonna DIE narrative that everybody in this administration from the President on down peddles.
Yeah, the same people who think “never let a crisis go to waste” is a good strategy will not be above manufacturing a crisis when and where needed.
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Also, there are few things more seductive than an opportunity to lay blame on someone else.
if i wanted to help Malia i’d call children’s services on the grounds of his smoking and Mooch’s feeding them pig slop. oh wait, are the rules DIFFERENT there??
I thought asthma was brought on by particles in the air – dust, in other words.
With people less likely to live on farms and with horse-powered transport mostly removed from cities, and without home furnaces burning a ton+ of coal a winter, there should be a lot less particle-debris in the air for a susceptible person to breathe in.
Note: I boat a lot on the Detroit River. The amount of smoke from the power plants and the steel plants, and the refineries, is very light. It is still visible at times, but is nothing like the old photos. I would guess that one lakes freighter in 1920 was putting out more pollution than a quarter of the US lakes fleet today. And today’s ships are much, much larger.
(One 1,000 foot lake freighter can carry something like what 10-12 1930-1940 sized freighters could carry.)
Aside: The size of Great Lakes freighters is limited by the depth of the channels and the size of the Soo Locks. It is not limited by anything else.)