US News

INHALE TO THE CHIEF: O ADMITS HE STILL SMOKES

A day after he signed the nation’s toughest-ever anti-smoking laws, President Obama confessed yesterday that he hasn’t kicked his decades-old cigarette habit.

Comparing his plight to that of an alcoholic’s battle with the bottle, Obama admitted that he’s sometimes “fallen off the wagon.”

The smoker-in-chief insisted he doesn’t indulge his nicotine habit daily and wouldn’t light up in front of his young daughters.

“I would say that I am 95 percent cured. But there are times where . . . I mess up,” Obama said.

“I don’t know what to tell you, other than the fact that, like folks who go to AA, once you’ve gone down this path, then it’s something you continually struggle with.”

Obama — whose aides carry nicotine gum in case the boss has a craving — signed strict new laws Monday aiming to keep kids from ever picking up a pack of smokes.

The new legislation also gives the feds unprecedented authority to regulate tobacco.

The famously disciplined health nut — who rises at dawn every day to work out — has been trying to quit smoking for years.

He promised his wife he’d quit if she’d support his bid for the White House. But Obama continued sneaking cigs on the campaign trail, occasionally bumming butts from staffers. With Post Wire Services

jennifer.fermino@nypost.com