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Pneumonia Episode Shows Clinton’s Determination

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Martin Hughes

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So, it turns out that Hillary Clinton has had pneumonia since Friday.

Have you had pneumonia before? Even at my young age about thirteen or so years ago, it was tough. I don’t think I would have been able to handle a full campaign schedule.

Now, I’ve been a Sanders supporter. What I liked is his grit and determination. I wondered, to be honest, if Clinton had what it took. Did she have the determination and strength to be President?

We’ve just seen how she handles pneumonia. Which is a horrible illness — it’s amazing she wasn’t coughing more. She had a fever. She may have been sweating, nauseous, desperately wanting to lie down. Pneumonia is hell.

But she kept going. Not only did she keep a full campaign schedule — she tried her darndest to be the picture of perfect health.

It’s everything that I like and dislike about Clinton, but it tips the scales in the favor of what I like about her. She is trying to shore up her public image, constantly. But underneath it all, she is working her hardest for the American people. She feels like she has to hold back, constantly, due to the stigma surrounding her and due to long decades in the limelight, but if you watch her actions you’ll see she is really working hard for successfully in fighting for the American people — sacrificing, caring. As she stated recently:

“If you want to run for the Senate, or run for the Presidency, most of your role models are going to be men. And what works for them won’t work for you. Women are seen through a different lens. It’s not bad. It’s just a fact. It’s really quite funny. I’ll go to these events and there will be men speaking before me, and they’ll be pounding the message, and screaming about how we need to win the election. And people will love it. And I want to do the same thing. Because I care about this stuff. But I’ve learned that I can’t be quite so passionate in my presentation. I love to wave my arms, but apparently that’s a little bit scary to people. And I can’t yell too much. It comes across as ‘too loud’ or ‘too shrill’ or ‘too this’ or ‘too that.’ Which is funny, because I’m always convinced that the people in the front row are loving it.”

It’s not just the pneumonia. It’s the constant criticism, every time she gets excited or passionate, that she sounds “too shrill” and bossy, that she has to dial in. It’s her attempt to try to be friendly, but not too friendly that she’s not taken seriously; serious, but not so serious that she becomes that “bossy woman.” It’s the challenge of being a woman in politics. And the pneumonia was just one more part of her image she had to be self-conscious about.
 
And here’s the thing — she is determined to do that. More, possibly, than anyone else in America right now, she is determined to play an unwritten part in politics — the first female President of a country that, less than a century ago, wouldn’t even have let her vote.
 
I want my President to stay focused on the American people, to see illness as a nuisance, to see just about everything as an irrelevant nuisance — except for doing their best for the American people. And I see Clinton doing that. Even through pneumonia, she’s giving strong speeches, talking about bringing us together, remaining even-headed and knowledgeable — a leader who listens in her thoughtful decisionmaking. These last three days have taught me that her determination to focus on the issues that are important for the American people, over and above personal concerns, is nearly unparalleled.
 
And it’s fitting that the news comes out today — a day that reminds us that we need brave and courageous men and women who put their country’s needs above their own, who are willing to make sacrifices — even the greatest sacrifice — when it comes to defending our country.
It’s a day that reminds us, too, who would be best on the world stage — who we can trust most to project a respected image to the world, as a representative of all the determination, grit, and heart that is in America. Someone who tells the world that, no matter what happens, this country’s leaders are determined to do what is best for all of the American people.

Thanks for reading.

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