Presidents get sick. Presidential candidates get sick. President George H.W. Bush vomited and fainted at a state dinner in Japan. George W. Bush the Lesser fainted after choking on a pretzel. Presidents also don’t announce every minor illness they have. Serious, debilitating, or life-threatening conditions should be disclosed—but not every flu or pneumonia or normal passing bug.
Hillary Clinton either fainted or at least wobbled and needed help getting into a car, but she didn’t need to be hospitalized, and an hour later walked out of her daughter’s apartment, waved, briefly spoke, hugged a small admirer, and overall looked fine. But some in the media are caterwauling. Of course.
We now know that Clinton has pneumonia. And despite that, she showed up at the September 11 memorial, on a hot, humid day, and stood in a packed group for a long ceremony. Given her pneumonia, it was too much. Not life-threatening, not bad enough to require hospitalization, and something from which she quickly recovered, but more than she could handle. Let the screamers scream.
Hillary Clinton shows up. She showed up on September 11, 2001, and unlike her opponent, she didn’t use those horrors as cause to gloat or for dishonest self-aggrandizement. And despite having pneumonia, and despite the heat and humidity, she showed up at the memorial. It doesn’t look good for a world leader to wobble and need help to avoid falling down, but it speaks to her strength and dedication that despite her temporary illness, and despite the weather, she still showed up. It’s what she’s done her entire adult life.