Barack and Michelle: a New Book on the Power Couple

Dylan Ratigan is host and moderator of a new MSNBC news and talk show called "Morning Meeting." MSNBC must have felt the need of balance and moderation in its daytime programming in taking Ratigan aboard. Dylan Ratigan was plucked from another NBC program which airs all day for the business market-the ever popular and long-running CNBC. The alphabet soup of NBC shows can be confusing, but you can use mnemonics to keep them straight. MSNBC is the Microsoft-NBC combination; think of the "MS" not only as Microsoft but as the multiple sclerotic liberal network which holds Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as its standout stars during primetime.

Anyway, Ratigan is one good reason for watching MSNBC almost without guilt. Ratigan can handle the pace, manage the transitions, direct his own show, speed skipping from one clip to another like the consummate professional he is. Ratigan's background experience is broad (he worked at Bloomberg News, ABC, ) and he has written for the New York Times, the Miami Herald, the Washington Post, and the Chicago Tribune. I would guess that his politics are mildly liberal, or centrist, though the fact that I am guessing means that doesn't matter much in terms of watching. With such a concern for facts as business writers and analysts must have, it was a little bit of a departure for Dylan Ratigan to host Christopher Anderson on a book tour for "Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage," released a few days ago.

Truth to tell, I think the marriage tribulations of presidents are as boring and inane as those of "Days of Our Lives" soap operas. Nor do I care who does the cooking, has a meltdown for what reason, or why the children were so long in coming. I especially don't want to hear about a president's children, except for a few brief lines repeating the obvious, that they are typically well-educated, cute, precocious, and as charming and innocent as only children can be.

But what caught my attention about Dylan Ratigan's Anderson interview on the Barack and Michelle was mention of Barack Obama's cigarette smoking. As a former smoker, that's a "dirty little secret" that interests me, particularly so when the president speaks of a focus on health care "prevention" which will save millions. Is the president's smoking habit causing high health insurance premiums for the rest of us? Apologists will point to the fact he's paying more in taxes than the rest of us by sticking with this cigarette smoking habit. That's a dual purpose argument, also used to promote legalization of marijuana and other illegal substances. Ah, so the increase in the cigarette taxes on the poor is a noble thing? An attractive argument, except for the multi-million dollar cigarette smuggling business which owes its existence to high federal and state taxes on tobacco products.

But what if President Obama has what is called (in others, at least) an "addictive personality?" Couldn't that impact his judgment? Does his use of Nicorette gum, which contains mini shots of nicotine, constitute an attempt at self-medication? Jonathan Capehart, a frequent MSNBC guest, excuses the president's smoking as being "better than drinking alcohol." Vicky Ward of Vanity Fair Magazine told Ratigan that the president's smoking was "okay so long as he didn't smoke in front of the children."

But one might also argue that the smoking gave the president experience and authority in the matter, leading up to his signing the toughest tobacco legislation ever passed in June of this year. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act signed by the president grants greater authority to the FDA to regulate the amount of nicotine in cigarettes and to further restrict cigarette pack labeling. The Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act also requires the cigarette companies to put large warning signs on cigarette cartons. That's kind of like passing a law requiring Iran to put up big signs on its nuclear fuel processing plants warning of the dangers of nuclear attack -with the key difference that the cigarette companies must comply whereas Ahmadinajad would laugh and launch.