Hillary Clinton: "This is the work of my life, and I’m not stopping now"

It was great to be back on the campaign trail yesterday. As you may know, I recently had a cough that turned out to be pneumonia. I tried to power through it, but even I had to admit that maybe a few days of rest would do me good.

I’m not great at taking it easy, even under ordinary circumstances, and sitting home was pretty much the last place I wanted to be with just two months until Election Day.

But having a few days to myself was actually a gift. I talked with some old friends and spent time with our very sweet dogs. And I did some thinking. The campaign trail doesn’t really encourage reflection, and it’s important to sit with your thoughts every now and then.

People like me—we’re lucky. When I’m under the weather, I can afford to take a few days off. Millions of Americans can’t. They either go to work sick, or they lose a paycheck.

Lots of Americans still don’t even have insurance—or they do, but it’s too expensive to actually use. So they toss back Tylenols, chug orange juice, and hope that cough or cold or virus goes away on its own.

And lots of working parents can’t afford child care. It costs as much as college tuition in many states, so millions of moms and dads have no backup if they get sick—they’re on their own. I’ve met so many people living on a razor’s edge—one illness away from losing their job, one paycheck away from losing their home.

Events like these are mere bumps in the road for some families—but for others, they are catastrophic. And that disparity goes against everything we stand for as Americans.

Some things shouldn’t come down to luck. Some things should be within reach for every American, no matter what—like financial security, affordable health care, and the peace of mind that comes with knowing that if something goes wrong, your family will be okay.

That’s why I got into this race: to fight for everyone working hard, often against the odds, to support their families and contribute to our country. I want to tear down all the barriers standing in their way.

I’m running for the factory workers and food servers who on their feet all day—and the nurses looking after patients all night. I’m running for the young people who dream of changing our country and world for the better, and I’m running for all the parents and grandparents supporting those dreams by dedicating every dollar they can to their education.

Now, we’re in the final stretch. There are just 53 days left. I'm going to be campaigning hard all the way until Election Day, talking about my ideas for our country everywhere I go—from reining in Wall Street to creating good-paying jobs to, yes, guaranteed paid family leave, so that no one in this country ever has to choose between taking care of their family (or themselves) and a paycheck.

We need a president who’s spent years fighting for these issues, and who has a plan to support all families, in all their configurations. And if I have the honor of serving as your president, no one will fight harder for your children and your families—because this is the work of my life, and I’m not stopping now.

Why did Clinton hide her pneumonia? Because she’s a woman

 

She didn’t want to say she was sick.

Hillary Clinton, that is, who recently has suffered coughing fits followed Sunday by a near-collapse during New York’s 9/11 memorial ceremony. She left the ceremony early, claiming overheatedness, and appeared to weave, lose her footing and pitch forward as she approached her car, as captured on a cellphone video.
Later in the day, Clinton’s campaign announced that the Democratic candidate has pneumonia.
Most by now are familiar with the fallout — speculation about her health, concerns about her transparency in not reporting her illness sooner — all amid the furor over Clinton’s weird comment at a fundraiser about half of Donald Trump’s followers belonging in a “basket of deplorables.”
Say what?

Other than being one of the strangest combinations of words ever uttered, where did Clinton come up with such verbiage? Here’s the partial quote in question: “You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. Right? The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic — you name it.”
Since when does she like to use such words, which don’t sound at all like Clinton? She’s too studied and cautious to randomly toss out a phrase that, in addition to being offensive and inevitably problematic, has a somewhat poetic edge. A-tisket, a-tasket, are those deplorables in your basket?
Perhaps the phrase, certain to become a campaign metaphor for “uh-oh,” evolved during a brainstorming session with folks who wouldn’t dare censor their boss: Basket of deplorables, hilarious! OMG, you should use that!
Clinton’s basket may as well have been delivered to Trump with a bottle of champagne and a bow. As she began apologizing for speaking too broadly about too many Americans — suffering the inevitable comparison to Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” — Trump glided along the unfamiliar terrain of the high road.
Rather than harp on the already popular trope that Clinton isn’t physically strong enough to be president, he said he hopes she recovers soon so that they can meet in debate. About this, Trump didn’t have to feign sincerity, figuring he’d have a better shot at defeating Clinton than he would Joe Biden, Tim Kaine or some other sudden substitute. But mainly, he calculated — or had been instructed — that attacking a woman when she was literally down would get him nowhere.
Then again, it’s hardly necessary to point out Clinton’s physical frailties, temporary though they are, when the woman is so plainly suffering. Replay after replay shows the coughing fit and then the weave-and-bob of her 9/11 episode. Anchors and commentators hit auto-pundit to produce the question du jour: Can this woman handle the presidency? Please. This woman has a bad cold. She needs rest. She’ll be fine.

 Another question also arose, at least in many women’s minds: Would anyone ask the same question about a man under similar circumstances? Here’s the more pertinent question: Why do women feel they can’t admit to being sick? You know the answer. It’s because women fear showing any sign of weakness lest others presume the worst — that she’s not as good as a man

As the weaker sex, which is only true as concerns upper-body muscle mass (about 40 percent less) and significantly less testosterone (hence less invading, marauding and pillaging), women tend to hide anything that might suggest “weaker sex.” This is absurd on its face, but it also happens to be true.
Thus, Clinton soldiered on, trying to keep to schedule despite probably feeling awful, and paid a high price for denial. Her silence about the pneumonia wasn’t so much a lack of transparency, as news-gazers have extrapolated, as it was a valiant attempt to stay the course and preclude exactly what happened. People began to wonder about her health. Critics found it easy to conclude: She’s weak; she’s frail; she’s a woman, after all.
When did it become a liability to be sick, which all of us are from time to time? For women, it began when they entered the male-dominated workplace en masse a generation ago and worked twice as hard to be as good as a man. This likely is why Clinton would rather suffer in silence than endure further scrutiny about her ability to serve — a deplorable reality deserving of its own basket.

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The Fix: Why CAnother question also arose, at least in many women’s minds: Would anyone ask the same question about a man under similar circumstances? Here’s the more pertinent question: Why do women feel they can’t admit to being sick? You know the answer. It’s because women fear showing any sign of weakness lest others presume the worst — that she’s not as good as a man. linton’s health incident isn’t going away

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 The Fix's Aaron Blake explains the incident during which Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton fell ill on Sept. 11, and why her health is likely to remain a subject of discussion. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)