This past Sunday during a memorial for the 15th anniversary of 9/11, Hillary Clinton’s recent health problems scare escalated. She left the event early to return to her daughter’s apartment nearby, which her campaign said was because she was overheated. Video by a spectator released shortly after shows Clinton getting into her car and appearing to faint and slump over. Immediately after it was tweeted, the media went wild.
Stories from her battling some sort of neurological condition to other complex diseases went rampant. It was noted how she had been battling some sort of cough, which her camp blamed on allergies. It’s basically been the most ludicrous in the news recently. Everyone was worried, but also interested in how this would play out with the rest of the presidential race. They also felt lied to as they knew something was happening, but there was no word on what yet. Finally, after lengthy suspicions from the media, her camp released a statement confirming she had pneumonia. Clearly this has put a dampen, not only on her schedule, but also the minds of voters.
She’s already seen as this woman who is cold and unemotional, but also as untrustworthy. This word has been thrown around by those who refer back to her email scandal, her time as Secretary of State and Benghazi (which she has been cleared of) and the state of her foundation’s financial records. Even some Bernie Sanders supporters have criticized her for being dishonest. She’s time and time tried to address each problem, but she’s still struggling with her image. Now that’s she clinched the nomination and realizes her problem, she’s opened up a bit more. Her polls are getting higher. A recent mini-profile of her, done by Humans of New York, really portrayed her in a different light. She’s even agreed to release more medical records after this health issue. I’ll be the first to say, she’s not my personal candidate. I’ve been just as skeptical about her and have read and seen things I don’t like. She is progressive though. She is for LGTBQ+ rights and for women’s health care and universal health care and immigration rights. So, when it comes down to her over Trump, I’ll pick Clinton.
Something else I’ll back Clinton on is the call out of sexism. She’s experienced it repeatedly throughout her life and especially during the campaign. This pneumonia/health ordeal has me questioning the media and their handling of it. Maybe she should have alerted the media right away, but she knew exactly what it would cause. She knew these kind of challenges and questions of, “can she continue her campaign? Will this affect her ability to lead? She’s cancelling all these events, what will she do?” would be proposed. Her leadership and status would be questioned. Now, if Trump or Obama or any other president for that matter would have been diagnosed with this, it wouldn’t be such a big deal. This type of coverage would have never happened. It would’ve been a quick TV segment and then everyone waits till he returns. It’s different with women. We’re seen as more delicate and needy, no matter who you are. She’s been working with this illness for quite a bit I’m sure and instead of praise for continuing on, it’s questions about her ability now. There’s always been theories surrounding her life and health propagated mainly by Republicans, so of course this is news.
Clinton could be in the ICU and I would still vote for her over Trump. She’s proven resilience, strength and intelligence in life and especially this battle for president. So yes, she’s sick. She needs time off. But she’s still a bad ass trying to break the biggest glass ceiling ever. She doesn’t have time for nonsensical news.
