While watching the national news last week, I was bombarded with coverage of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton leaving the Sept. 11 memorial event early because she felt dehydrated. The footage of her departure proved just how bad her condition was. She was wobbling and needed the assistance of her staff to get into the van.
Later that day, Clinton walked out of her daughter Chelsea’s apartment building appearing fine, but it her campaign reported later reported the former Secretary of State was diagnosed with pneumonia. Even though I don’t support her, I wish her well. I also expect her to recover from whatever she has. We don’t live in the era of William Henry Harrison, and I am certain she can afford good medical care.
What was striking about the whole day wasn’t that she was sick, but the way she and her campaign conducted themselves. Clinton was diagnosed with pneumonia two days before the memorial event in New York City. The American people have a right to know about the health of their two presidential candidates. The days of hiding an illness, like President Franklin D. Roosevelt did, are over.
Clinton failed to inform the public early enough, and she paid the price. According to an average of national polls, Clinton’s lead over Republican nominee Donald Trump has shrunk from 3.1 percent on Sept. 11, to 0.9 percent on Sept. 18. Recent polls from CNN show Trump pulling ahead in the imperative battleground states of Ohio and Florida.
Clinton’s lack of credibility is one of her greatest problems, especially for Wisconsinites. Despite leading in Wisconsin, the latest Marquette Law School poll indicates that voters find her less honest than Trump. Now only leading by a margin of 3 percentage points among likely voters and 5 percentage points among registered voters, she has some work to do in our state.
Many view Clinton as either an elitist career politician who has behaved as though she is above the law countless times. The way she treated concerns over her health last weekend simply add to the mountain of false statements she has made regarding herself in recent years. Her scandals are a plague to her campaign.
Clinton has lied multiple times about the use of a private email server. Originally claiming she used one personal device with a private email “for convenience,” it has recently been found she used thirteen devices, some of which her staff destroyed with hammers. Regarding emails marked confidential, Clinton’s absurd explanation is that she did not know what “C” meant at the beginning of a paragraph. I find it hard to believe that our Secretary of State was never told how to use confidential information necessary for our national security.
Clinton is a very experienced presidential candidate, but she is also a historically weak figure of trust. Her poll numbers are falling, and she knows it. In order for Clinton to climb back on top, she needs to work more on her strengths instead of continuing to tear down Trump in the mudslinging battle currently taking place between them.
