Posted on 09/14/2016 6:13:23 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
When Hillary Clinton began mapping out her presidential campaign, she knew that clearing the hurdle to become the first woman commander in chief would be paramount. What she didn’t know or fully understand 18 months ago was how her age would work against her in subtle and cruel ways, and how ageism and sexism can combine in a double whammy undermining her candidacy.
Unfounded rumors spread by Donald Trump and his allies about Clinton’s allegedly poor health and lack of stamina found their mark Sunday in a video gone viral that shows Clinton stumbling as aides help her into a waiting car. Her doctor’s statement released several hours later revealed Clinton had been diagnosed the previous Friday with pneumonia, a common and treatable condition, but which takes longer to recover from if you’re over 65; Clinton is 68, soon to be 69.
CNN covered Clinton’s near collapse all afternoon, bringing in Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the network’s chief medical correspondent, to recall Clinton’s 2012 concussion and her history of blood clots. NPR’s Cokie Roberts said on Monday’s Morning Edition that Democrats were discussing “sotto voce” how to replace Clinton as their candidate should that become necessary. Joe Biden is their top choice, she said, and he’s five years older than Clinton with a history of brain aneurysms.
It’s worth pointing out that Trump is 70 and while he doesn’t have pneumonia, he’s not exactly a picture of health. The point is that we as a society give the guys a lot more leeway than we give the women. We’re accustomed to older men in leadership positions. John McCain and Bob Dole were both over 70 when they ran for president. The media didn’t obsess over it, though we rightly scrutinized their vice-presidential picks, and McCain’s choice of an obviously unqualified Sarah Palin cost him votes.
Both these older candidates lost, and the contrast of youthful energy conveyed by their much younger opponents, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, contributed to those losses.
If Democrats are saying anything sotto voce, it’s how grateful they are that Clinton isn’t facing Marco Rubio.
The problem Clinton has there is no Golda Meir leading the way for her. The “Iron Lady” of Israel was elected prime minister when she was 70, and she successfully prosecuted the Yom Kippur war when she was 75. She was ageless, and given her age and demeanor, sexless. In the first days of the 1973 war, it was said she smoked 90 cigarettes a day instead of her usual 60.
We think of ourselves as a youthful country even though the U.S. population is aging. We like more recently to elect presidents who are in their prime, in their forties and fifties, and we indulge them in their inexperience. Clinton defies recent history as someone who is highly qualified but struggles to excite and inspire. Bernie Sanders surprised everybody becoming a rock star as a septuagenarian. He even had a doppelganger in the comedian Larry David to connect with voters.
Clinton is on her own to make her way. There is no template for a woman of her vintage. “Ageism is rampant these days, but of course it’s worse for a woman,” says Deborah Tannen, a professor of linguistics at Georgetown University. “Why is there more fuss about Hillary’s age than Donald’s? Because an older man looks distinguished,” she says, although that’s not the first adjective one would apply to Trump.
“Older women are invisible,” says Tannen, in the sense they are insignificant in public life. The medical flap sticks to Clinton and becomes “Healthgate” in a way it wouldn’t for a man because it plays into an existing suspicion that a woman in this role is “not quite right for this,” says Tannen.
The point is we’re not sure what to make of an older woman with ambition vying for the most powerful job in the world. Women who support Clinton and are her age or older admire her for her resilience and wonder why she would want to put herself through such a wringer. Younger women seem to regard her as something out of Jurassic Park. They can’t relate to her, and they don’t get Trump either. He’s like a corporate version of the Kardashians.
The real problem isn’t Clinton’s age or her health; it’s her lack of transparency. Millennials embrace transparency as the religion of the internet. People want to know everything, and Clinton is an old school candidate who wants things kept private. But the 90-minute gap on Sunday before her campaign released a statement about what was happening may be the last gasp of privacy for Clinton.
Her campaign announced on Monday that it would be releasing more information about her general health. If there are lessons to be learned from this for Clinton, it’s to heed a health warning and not try to power through, and to let go of that 20th century notion of a zone of privacy.
Her bout of pneumonia has gotten more attention than FDR’s polio or JFK’s multiple ailments at comparable points in their campaigns. If the voters knew more about their health challenges, we might have missed out on their leadership. Clinton needs to convince the voters and the right-wing conspiracy theorists that she doesn’t have some underlying condition that she’s hiding. And she needs to convince the rest of us, and perhaps herself, that at her age she has the wisdom to take a health scare seriously.
Eleanor Clift is as caustic as ever.
Bootlicker for Hillary and all things elitist (such as the entire Democratic Party these days).
Why does anyone employ her anymore?
A article written by a third grader about her loving Mommy.
Eleanor Clift and Susan Estrich are the fix’it feminists for the Clintons. While most ethical people will at least stay close to the truth somewhat, these two loony birds will say *anything* up to and including that the sky is not blue and never was.
Just like when they don’t drink the kool-aid.
Clift, you rotten shrew. If the Republican candidate was
in the same shape as the Hildebeast then you would be
leading the torch and pitchfork crowd.
Eleanor is a widow. If she wasn’t crackers before the loss of her husband (the execrable Tom Brazaitis , who was even more lefty than she) she has been driven to it through bereavement and loneliness.
She might be the best example of a so-called idealistic generation that grew into a cynical, even fascist cabal infesting DC. They will die off in the next 10-15 years but the damage they have wrought to society, the Constitution and government will, unfortunately, linger.
Both of which were, of course, assiduously and voluntarily blacked out by contemporary media outlets. If Clift knows this, she is a liar. If she doesn't, she's a fool.
For God's sake, FDR was crippled from an early age and held the presidency longer than any individual yet magically was never (or very rarely) shown in his wheelchair.
Hillary is probably older than 95% of the public school teachers I had, yet she’s running for president? I know you could say that about Trump, but he’s in good shape, and she’s battling something.
Start calling the left Alt Reality.
One of the reasons I heard repeated ad nauseum during the 2008 campaign for rejecting John McCain was that Sarah Palin was poor presidential material. Her fitness aside, I said, Sarah Palin isn't running for president. She's a VICE presidential candidate. Yes, I was assured, but with McCain being so old, it's likely she'll have to assume the office at some point.
So -- typically -- we once again see the Saturn-faced flag of liberal hypocrisy flying high.
Hey E, Hillary passed out dead away. Watch the video. Maybe this has something to do with why people think she may not be healthy enough to be President. Also, the fact that she needed to be carried up stairs, has had apparent seizures on camera, has been nearly hiding out and hardly campaigning for some time, except going to extremely high ticket small fundraisers, among other things might just also have something to do with why people think that she isn’t well. Where have you been?
"CNN covered Clinton’s near collapse all afternoon."
Earlier in the piece it was a "stumble". Big difference between a stumble and a "near collapse".
It’s worth pointing out that Trump is 70 and while he doesn’t have pneumonia, he’s not exactly a picture of health.
Wow, two major things liberals have taught me these past couple of years :
Gender isn’t just a grammar concept, it’s simply a matter of how we feel and what we do with our sexual organs.
Stumbling is the same as a “near collapse”. So, when I hear the word stumble from now on, I have to envision either a simple trip up of the feet or a near face first fall right onto asphalt.
Liberals ... What will they think of next for political power.
I thought she was already moldering under the dirt - no, not the Lunger, Mrs Clinton, Elenor.
Eleanor Clift, who is nearly as unappealing in so many ways as Hillary Clinton, let slip the real issue at stake, whether Hillary suffers from an underlying disease, rather than pneumonia, which would disqualify her. To obfuscate this fundamental issue, Clift writes an article about ageism and sexism rather than about Parkinson's disease or cerebral deterioration until she lets slip the quoted sentence.
Surrogates for Trump should make the production of those test results which would clarify whether Hillary suffers from an underlying disease the determinative issue. Hillary might produce very old tests which, even if showing abnormalities, will be dismissed for their age. I understand that a concussion can cause very serious aftershock problems many years later, but that is a nuance that might be lost on the electorate. Hillary might instead produce no clinical data creating an issue of transparency the surrogates (but hopefully not Trump himself) for Trump should fully exploit.
There is always the chance that in fact Hillary has no underlying condition, or no condition that it be revealed by the tests which she might release. I think the likelihood of that is slim and the downside is minimal because it only brings Hillary back to a presumably normal level of health.
“Her bout of pneumonia has gotten more attention than FDR’s polio”
==
That’s because her “bout of pneumonia” has lasted longer! Cough, cough, wheeze....
Dear Ms Clift,
The reason Hitlery will not be elected POTUS has nothing to do with her age or her sex!
Hitlery is a harridan!
Definition of harridan: an angry and unpleasant woman
Synonyms: battle-ax (or battle-axe), dragon lady, fury, harpy, shrew, termagant, virago
Related Words: fishwife, gorgon; carper, castigator, caviler (or caviller), censurer, critic, faultfinder, nitpicker, railer, scold; belittler, derider, detractor; pettifogger, quibbler
Origin and Etymology of harridan: perhaps modification of French haridelle old horse, gaunt woman
First Known Use: 1678
Source: Merriam-Webster’s Learner’s Dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/harridan
ALL of those related word definitions of her character most certainly fit!
And if all of that wasn’t enough to turn the American people against her, she has been outed as a serial liar!
Good riddance to bad rubbish!
Sincerely,
The Real American People!
I can’t read it. I picture her stupidly talking when I read her words. I hear her arrogant, no nothing attitude. Can’t do it. She is a weak idiot who is democrat first, vagina holder second, human being third.
She must really hate this whole interwebs thing where her lies are no longer given any credence.
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