An outfit called Leaders of the Lung Cancer Free World has run a full page ad in the New York Times (and perhaps elsewhere – the group is not exactly a fount of information) headlined:

AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA AND SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE JOHN BOEHNER

The ad calls for Obama and Boehner to “come together – to look beyond partisanship to our common humanity – and to point the way forward in the fight against this dreadful disease. There is much you can do.”

Specifically:

On a personal level there is this: For the sake of the nation and of your families, stand up and take a public pledge not to smoke.

But wait – didn’t Obama’s doctors just declare him tobacco-free, as the New York Times reported last week?

But maybe not nicotine-free, says the UK’s Daily Mail:

He was declared ‘tobacco free’ just days ago by the White House doctor.

But it seems the results of President Obama’s physical exam might not have given the whole picture.

As he met the world’s leaders at the G20 summit in France, the President appeared to be accompanied by an old friend – nicotine gum.

New group: Leaders of the Nicorette Free World.