Boehner won’t give up wine to become POTUS

US House of Representatives speaker, John Boehner, has said he won’t run for President as he doesn’t want to give up wine, cigarettes and mowing the lawn.

The Republican congressman was speaking to chat show host Jay Leno about politics and the brutal battle with President Barack Obama over health care reform when Leno asked if he ever thought of running for president himself.

“No,” said Boehner, “I like to play golf. I like to cut my own grass.

“I do drink red wine. I smoke cigarettes. And I’m not giving that up to be president of the United States.”

The political stalemate caused by Boehner and Obama’s tussle over healthcare led to an extremely costly government shutdown in the US last autumn.

As reported by the drinks business at the time it caused a minor crisis in the beer and wine industry as no labels for new vintages or products could be approved.

Whether Boehner would have to give up wine and cigarettes is debateable.

President Obama himself remained a smoker during his first few years in the White House and state banquets feature some of the very best wines in the world from the cellars of royal families and presidents.

US presidents may have to present a clean-cut image to their public but many drink quite happily in private.

Although as a rule they may not drink to excess, unfairly or otherwise, Richard Nixon was regularly accused of raging around the White House in gin-soaked, paranoid frenzies.