Hillary Clinton fell ill on the campaign trail over the weekend, struggling to make it through a 9/11 memorial service after becoming “overheated” according to her campaign. The campaign later revealed that Clinton is suffering from pneumonia, a common ailment made more common by the demands of a contentious political campaign. Former Obama advisor Dan Pfieffer tweeted that “every candidate I have ever worked for has gotten sick on the trail and worked through it because you can’t take days off in a close race.”
We could have done better yesterday, but it is a fact that public knows more about HRC than any nominee in history. https://t.co/Q50oHK85wQ
— Jennifer Palmieri (@jmpalmieri) September 12, 2016
The problem seems bigger than it might because the Clinton campaign didn’t immediately disclose her pneumonia diagnosis. Clinton communications director Jennifer Palmieri acknowledged that the hesitation was a mistake, admitting they “could have done better.” (See tweet above.) But the second part of that tweet is meant to head off accusations that Clinton’s lack of immediate transparency about her illness falls in line with a habit of secrecy. Not true, Palmieri replies: Clinton is the most scrutinized and transparent public figure (and presidential candidate) “in history.” Some right wingers are trying to make it seem as if Clinton’s pneumonia was a dark secret — metaphorically stored on a private server in her basement. But evidence suggests she was just trying to tough it out while feeling under the weather, as every candidate must.
