Doc Declares Obama in "Excellent Health"

(AP)  President Obama is in "excellent health" and "fit for duty," the White House physician said Sunday after the 48-year-old commander in chief's first checkup since he took office.

Navy Capt. Jeffrey Kuhlman said after the 90-minute exam at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, that he saw nothing that would prevent Obama from fulfilling his term as president.

According to a White House release after the exam, Kuhlman recommended that Obama "continue smoking cessation efforts" and modify his exercise regimen to strengthen his leg muscles to overcome occasional pain from chronic tendinitis in his left leg.

The report said Obama uses a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory for the tendinitis and "nicotine replacement therapy" - believed to be nicotine gum - in his bid to quit smoking. Obama said at a June news conference that he still had an occasional cigarette. It was his first public acknowledgment that he hadn't kicked the habit.

White House officials were not immediately available for comment about whether the president was relying solely on nicotine gum or still occasionally smokes cigarettes.

The doctor said the president should modify his diet to bring his LDL, or bad cholesterol, below 130. At the time of his last exam, in January 2007, when he was an Illinois senator, Obama's total cholesterol was 173, while his LDL was 96 and HDL, or good cholesterol, was 68. That was an excellent report.

This time total cholesterol was up to 209, with HDL down slightly at 62. LDL was up to 138. Borderline high cholesterol starts at 200, with LDL considered in the same category at 130.

The overall results, the doctor said, indicated the president need not return for a physical until August 2011 - after he turns 50.

The president is the picture of health, eats modest portions and exercises regularly. He is an avid basketball player and golfer.

The report said Obama, at 6-feet,1-inch, weighs 180 pounds in shoes and exercise clothing. His pulse rate is 56, which is very good, as is his blood pressure - 105 over 62. The doctor said Obama's vision was 20/20 in both eyes for both distance and near vision.

The president was checked for and found free of colon cancer with a virtual colonoscopy, a scan that avoids the more invasive visual inspection with a camera device that is passed into the large intestine.

The tendinitis that Obama suffers in his left leg could be the result of his regular basketball playing. He is left-handed and he would use his left leg primarily in taking jump-shots.

[Funky-President]

100% Anthrax Free~!

PUBLISHED SEPT 4, 2001.


nytimes.com/2001/09/04/international/04GERM.html ?pagewanted=all

"The projects, which have not been previously disclosed, were begun under President Clinton and have been embraced by the Bush administration, which intends to expand them.

Earlier this year, administration officials said, the Pentagon drew up plans to engineer genetically a potentially more potent variant of the bacterium that causes anthrax, a deadly disease ideal for germ warfare."

"A published account of the experiment, which appeared in a scientific journal in late 1997, alarmed the Pentagon, which had just decided to require that American soldiers be vaccinated against anthrax. American officials tried to obtain a sample from Russia through a scientific exchange program to see whether the Russians had really created such a hybrid. The Americans also wanted to test whether the microbe could defeat the American vaccine, which is different from that used by Russia.

Despite repeated promises, the bacteria were never provided.

Eventually the C.I.A. drew up plans to replicate the strain, but intelligence officials said the agency hesitated because there was no specific report that an adversary was attempting to turn the superbug into a weapon.

This year, officials said, the project was taken over by the Pentagon's intelligence arm, the Defense Intelligence Agency. Pentagon lawyers reviewed the proposal and said it complied with the treaty. Officials said the research would be part of Project Jefferson, yet another government effort to track the dangers posed by germ weapons.

A spokesman for Defense Intelligence, Lt. Cmdr. James Brooks, declined comment. Asked about the precautions at Battelle, which is to create the enhanced anthrax, Commander Brooks said security was "entirely suitable for all work already conducted and planned for Project Jefferson."

[AbrahamSadegh]

A smoker is the greatest dictator on our closed Spaceship Earth.I was one for more than 30 years. The following helped me quit being a dictator once and for all and that was more than 17 years ago:

Each of billions of cell in our body, a complex organism and an awe inspiring source of existence, works 24 hours a day/7 days a week and all that it expects in return is to be provided with the needed enegry source to keep it going for decades under normal circumstance.

The most precious commodity in the Universe for that each cell needs and without which we will not survive but a few minutes is Oxygen. Yet, by smoking instead of fresh air which is already hard to come by we inject poison into those billions of cells that sustain us and commit gradual suicide in the process. Could there possibly be a greater dictator than a smoker?

By the way, the money - in addition to honoring my body's legitimate needs - that I have been saving for years by not smoking I spend on one of the loves of my life - going to see good movies. A win win situation.

[krzeaz]

I heard his dr. also told him to moderate his drinking.

That, in itself, indicates he has a drinking problem.

[countrycuz1]

Shame, shame. ...LOL... Bush would never allow smoking in the WH. I saw Don Rumsfeld light up outside the backdoor back while chatting with Condi back in 2003. As to his smoking...who cares! Big deal if he wants to huff down an occasional Marb Light 100. Good grief...it's not like the guy has the most sedate and calming job! If an occasional smoke will relieve tension, go for it.

[rondivoo]

yeah!

[truth-b-toll]

GOD BLESS PRESIDENT OBAMA AND THE USA!

[mcparkerr]

I believe that smoking is not healthy for anyone and I encourage anyone who smokes to stop. But, I think for Kent to throw a Dagger at the President of the USA as wheather He may smoke in his residnenc was uncalled. It may be the White House, but it is also His Home.

[ajvw]

actually the white house is a public building and smoking is not authorized in any public building

[jckbrn-2009]

As I would be - if I had his taxpayer provided & paid for support staff and health care program - and benefits.

[IndepTex20]

I say we should all throw in and buy him a lifetime supply of smokes.........say two packs a day!?

[govtguy]

"Fit for duty"....now there's a controverial choice of words if there ever was! If his BP is low, and his diet the only thing that needs adjusted, it goes to proof that he isn't working hard enough to resolve (notice I didn't say fix) the myriad of problems that the taxpayers (his employer) have. If I'm suffering, why isn't he?

[mcparkerr]

You must be a Rep?

[govtguy]

Negative on that, Independent Conservative