(I'll try to place spoilers below the cut, but there will be plenty of them about the rebooted Star Trek franchise.)

This has nothing to do with politics save the tendency of marketers to copy what works. I saw Star Trek (XI), and agree with most critics that it's a lively, fast, fun movie with nothing else on its mind but entertainment. (That's its problem, but I'll get to that in a bit.) What its larger marketing phenomenon has reminded me of is a certain space of days in 2008, between the end of the primaries and the DNC, when blog posts flew fast and furious in an attempt to discredit anyone who did not support Obama. This was when the irregularities in seating and counting were still quite fresh, when caucus legitimacy had not yet been overshadowed by disinfo birth certificate disputes.

Let's review. Bill Clinton liked cigars, although he kept that more or less to himself before the Monica thing made it "fashionable" to joke about it. Betty Ford was a drunk. Pickles was a pot dealer and "go to girl" for her sorority sisters. Al Gore inhaled, a lot, and did so often with his Negro best friend in school. I haven't looked it up, but I'm sure each and every major candidate running for high (snicker) office in 08 has "something to be ashamed of" when it comes to poisons in the body. Now we learn that in addition to being a white-wimmin lovin, Koran reading, madrassa schoolmate of his namesake Osama and Afropower paganist, Obama also...gasp...smokes. Cigarettes, that is.

It's a sad statement that we even have to have this discussion, "oh, but what of the children," blah blah. The man is running for high office, and he's rather young- it's unlikely he'll die of it during his term if elected. I've never seen him light up in front of a camera, and I doubt he ever will. As Sean-Paul and others note, "who cares?" We've all got a flaw or two, we're all human (Republican die hards not counting). But...but(t). In this day and age, I think it's worth a second look, or thought, or something. What kind of man thinks he's got an honest shot at office and still smokes?

Being cynical, there are actually positives to this, if you're a candidate.