The use of the phrase ‘skeletons in the closet’ in politics is not usually a reference to human bones, at least not until this year’s bizarre Presidential campaign in the Excited States of America.
Just when it appeared that Hilary Clinton was ready to pull away from the Donald, she almost fainted at the 9/11 memorial, and went home to bed with pneumonia. The Democratic nominee, former First Lady and former Secretary of State has enough health issues that it’s totally valid to question if she has the necessary health and stamina to serve in the most powerful job in the world, complete with launch codes for nuclear weapons.
The focus on health is a timely distraction for the Trump campaign, allowing him to go one on one with Dr. Oz and turn the spotlight away from his personal finances which could easily be a nightmare waiting to happen.
Truth be told though, if a candidate is not fit to serve, there’s precious little that can really be done to disqualify them. It was ever thus it seems. The longest serving U.S. President, Franklin Roosevelt, was basically an invalid after he was struck down by polio long before the White House.
In the days before 24/7 TV coverage, FDR’s people were successful in hiding the basic fact of his disability from millions of Americans. There’s no way on earth that he should have been allowed to run for a 4th term in 1944, but who was going to stop him?
How about the Gipper, Ronald Reagan, who died of Alzheimer’s 15 years after leaving office. Can anyone be certain that the dementia was not affecting his decisions while he was still in the Oval Office?
Many wonder what the rest of John Kennedy’s Presidency might have included if he had not been assassinated on the streets of Dallas. In fact he had so many health issues that it’s a wonder he lived until 1963.
It seems there’s no disabled list when it comes to politics.
I’m Roger Currie
