Clinton’s health is Obama’s birth certificate all over again: A barely disguised way for ...

[DonViejo]

Clinton’s health is Obama’s birth certificate all over again: A barely disguised way for conservatives to wallow in bigotry

The Clinton health hysteria is about painting women as too fragile to hold office

AMANDA MARCOTTE

Any other year, a presidential candidate who got wobbly at a 9/11 memorial service because he was battling a minor case of pneumonia would be regaled as a hero. How tough and patriotic he is, to brave the summer heat while wearing a Kevlar vest, even though his doctor told him to stay in bed for a couple days!

But since the candidate in question is a she and not a he, the narrative is very different this time around. Now that it’s Hillary Clinton, everyone’s wondering if Grandma is too weak and fragile for the job. Never mind that she’s running against a man who is himself an elderly grandfather, or that most presidents have been older men. Or that, as Digby noted in Salon on Monday, previous male presidents have had a slew of common health problems, from the common flu to cancer surgery. Or that getting sick occasionally is just the price you pay for being human.

“Have you told everyone every time you’ve come to work with a bad cold?” Sady Doyle, a feminist author whose upcoming book “Trainwreck: The Women We Love to Hate, Mock, and Fear . . . and Why” looks at how women in the public eye are shamed for having human flaws we tend to forgive in men. “It’s very strange to me because we know that campaigns are long and grueling and candidates are working seven days a week. They don’t get a lot of sleep. They’re constantly on airplanes and buses and shaking hands with strangers. We know they get tired. We know they get sick. But with Hillary there is this weird, conspiratorial, possessive attitude.”

The hysteria over Clinton having very normal and minor health problems is “uniquely tied to her gender.” Doyle continued.

-snip-

http://www.salon.com/2016/09/13/clintons-health-is-obamas-birth-certificate-all-over-again-a-barely-disguised-way-for-conservatives-to-wallow-in-bigotry/

[pnwmom]

1. Yes! No one complained after Kerry finally acknowledged his pneumonia -- 8 months later.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12512413575