Washington:
President Obama has quit smoking and has not had a cigarette in almost a year, his wife, Michelle Obama, said Tuesday.
"I'm very proud of him,'' the first lady said.
Mrs. Obama was asked about her husband's cigarette habit during a wide-ranging luncheon interview with a round table of reporters to mark the first anniversary of her "Let's Move!" campaign to reduce childhood obesity. She said she did not know exactly when Mr. Obama had quit, however.
"He never smoked a lot to begin with; I never saw him smoke,'' Mrs. Obama said, adding that as their daughters Malia and Sasha grow older, Mr. Obama wants to be able to look them in the eyes and say truthfully that he is not a smoker. "They want to know, 'You don't smoke, do you, Dad?'" she said.
The first lady took questions for about an hour in the Old Family Dining Room of the White House, over a meal whose menu included salad of winter greens (hand-picked by the chef Sam Kass from the White House garden), a choice of pan-roasted rockfish or seared rack of lamb, and a key lime tart for dessert - all in suitably small portions. She also addressed questions about the fat-laden White House menu for the Super Bowl, which featured kielbasa, cheeseburgers and hot dogs, and drew criticism in some quarters as not in keeping with Mrs. Obama's healthy eating agenda.
"It is about balance,'' said Mrs. Obama, who has long spotlighted her own love of French fries and maintains that all foods are fine in moderation. "I don't know what you have other than hot dogs or burgers at a Super Bowl party."