I just read a brief piece about Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama in The New Yorker called Aces by James McManus.   It was about Obama’s interest in the game of poker, even though he has been opposed to expanded legalized gambling. 

McManus points out that there have been a number of American presidents who were fans of the game of poker -Andrew Jackson (7th), Ulysses S. Grant (18th), Theodore Roosevelt (26th), Warren Harding (29th), Franklin Roosevelt (32nd), Harry Truman (33rd), Dwight Eisnenhower (34th), Lyndon Johnson (36th), Richard Nixon (37th), George W. Bush (43rd).   I’m not sure whether Abraham Lincoln (16th) played poker, but McManus points out that “he did use a poker analogy to explain his decision not to apologize to Queen Victoria during the Trent Affair“.  

Given this history, one might think that Obama’s position on legalized gambling is an anomoly.  But this may not be the case.  According to Rodney Reyman in his article Gambling, there is evidence that the Founding Fathers of this country were far from fond of gambling.   Consider these quotes: 

George Washington:  “Gambling is the child of avarice (greed), the brother of iniquity and the father of mischief.”

Thomas Jefferson:  ”Gambling corrupts our dispositions, and teaches us the habit of hostility against mankind.”

Benjamin Franklin: “Keep flax from fire, youth from gambling.”

Do these quotes indicate that these three Founding Father would be opposed to poker?  I’m not so sure, especially in light of the fact that while Obama has been opposed to the expansion of legal gambling, he still plays in a regular game (see here), and, as McManus reports, considers himself to be “a pretty good poker player.”

About a week ago, I wrote to the presidential campaigns of Mike Huckabee, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Dennis Kucinich, Fred Thompson and Ron Paul to find out about their views on poker (see here).  Specifically, I wanted to know whether they play poker and how they feel about the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) preventing banks and other financial institutions from allowing people to use funds to pay for online gambling.  So far I’ve received emails from the campaign teams of Clinton, Obama, Edwards and Huckabee, but haven’t learned anything about their views on my questions.  What then did I learn?

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I just contacted the online campaigns of John Edwards, John McCain, Dennis Kucinich, Rudy Giuliani, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Ron Paul, Fred Thompson, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney to find out two things: (1) Whether they play poker (I already know that Barack plays - see here); (2) What their views are on the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) preventing banks and other financial institutions from allowing people to use funds to pay for online gambling.  I’ll be surprised if anyone gets back to me.  My prediction is that Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul will be most opposed to the Act.  Stay tuned.