In 15 years, we'll all gather on 9/11 and ask each other, "Where were you when Hillary Clinton felt woozy?" At least I think we will, based on how huge of a national event it was. In spite of the fact that we're so obsessed with everything Hillary Clinton, at least as far as the media is concerned, I can't help but feel like we overlooked something on Sunday. #NeverForget.
Let's face it, the obsession with everything that Hillary does or did that could even be remotely thought of as shady, corrupt, dishonest, or even slightly questionable suddenly becomes the major focus of the media, no matter what. Meanwhile, Trump keeps coming up with excuses for problems with his charity funding/Pam Bondi, associating with racists, tax returns, his doctor. Seriously, have you seen the photos of the doctor who wrote his note? You ever wonder what a doctor who hands out medication using the method of "one for you, one for me," method would look like? That's the guy. None of the free samples from the pharmacy rep go to waste with that guy.
People keep complaining about how Hillary is not approachable, seems cold, aloof, mean. Well, if you had spent the past 25 years getting chewed apart by the media, Republicans, and the public, you would be a bit distant too. It doesn't help that Hillary spent her formative years being a professional woman in the 1970s All that crap you saw on Mad Men? She lived it -- she's Peggy! You try graduating from one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and then have to deal with a potbellied guy with a crappy comb-over and bad taste in suits calling you "sugar," "honey," and "babe" for most of your young life. Sounds like it would make you such a gregarious type of gal. Maybe the kind where the pundits keep telling you to smile more when you get interviewed. Nothing women enjoy more than being told they're not smiling enough and appearing unapproachable to men.
And now people are attacking Hillary's health, not only because she fainted after having pneumonia, but because she's had some health issues in the past. OK, let's be real. When you're 68, I don't care who you are, you're not going to be a spry young thing. Hell, most of us wish we could put up with half the crap she does at her age. I'm only 39 and the idea of driving more than 30 minutes seems exhausting, much less campaigning nonstop for 18 months. That's the kind of schedule she keeps. Hitting numerous speeches, fundraisers, sometimes in two or three different states, in a single day. Most of us get jet-lagged flying in the same time zone, much less living in hotels and sleeping when you can on a plane for a year and a half. Imagine all the hands she has to shake, all the babies she has to hold and give a kiss to? You know full well that babies, no matter how cute they are, are basically plague rats. When they go off to day care and kindergarten, forget it, you're going to be sick for years.
It doesn't help that Trump has been campaigning against Clinton by playing into all sorts of weird conspiracies about her health. I'm sorry, but I have a pretty hard and fast rule not to take anyone who gets his talking points from Infowars seriously. I've worked for the government for years; there's no way anyone could pull off these types of conspiracies. If after 25 years of continuous investigations by Congress, the FBI, special prosecutors, the media, nothing has happened, there's either nothing there, or she's the greatest supervillain in history. What makes it so much worse is that Trump keeps saying that Hillary doesn't have "the stamina or the strength" to be president. It's always about strength and stamina.
I'm not blind; I'm seen pictures of Trump. The guy's fat. He's fat and his only exercise is walking from from his golf cart to the ball and back again. I'm sorry, but when I see old men and women running those extreme marathons, I'm not going to take a guy whose only exercise is golf -- followed by KFC -- as a paragon of health. When you take into the fact the guy has spent years talking about his love life and got all defensive about his hands (we know it's not a real measure), and the way he talks about women, we know what it means. He's boasting about his masculine sexual virility. It eats this guy up that he's losing to a woman and that ladies aren't flocking to him like he thought they would. All this talk of how he's the one with the stamina and strength sounds like he's actually getting by on Viagra and poppers.
To be fair, there are legit complaints about how Hillary Clinton has run her campaign and about her record; she could have been more forthcoming about her pnemonia diagnosis. She's not above criticism, and even though I'm supporting her, I can't defend everything about her. Yet there is so much to this campaign that is just simply sexist. The double standards about her demeanor, while Trump screams and berates; the insults about her marriage to Bill; being called a bitch. Now we have added to the equation her health and her alleged lack of strength and stamina (a.k.a. masculine virility). What takes strength and stamina is dealing with obstacle after obstacle because of your gender; of being held to higher standards and even double standards because of who you are; of exhibiting human fragility and being accused of being unfit for a job. This is why Clinton has the strength and stamina to be president -- she's had to exhibit Herculean amounts of it just to achieve half of what she has.
AMANDA KERRI is a writer and comedian based in Oklahoma City. Follow her on Twitter @EternalKerri.
