Strength And The Presidency
How do strength and the Presidency go together? It is hard to imagine The President Of The United States Of America in anything other than good health. After all they are the figurehead of the greatest nation on earth today. The POTUS has access to the best doctors, the most advanced medical techniques and an almost unlimited proactive healthcare budget. When is the last time you heard of The President having something so small as a common cold? Can’t think of one. Lets be serious for a moment, The President is a human being just like you and I. President Reagan had some issues in the 80’s but that was quickly swept under the rug, in typical US political hush hush manner, and he went on to complete a his 2 term Presidency successfully.
In recent years President Grover Cleveland’s oral cancer tumor has been spotlighted in the media. On display at the Mütter Museum of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia but this is just one of the many US Presidents whom have had medical issues while in office. Wilson, Roosevelt and even Kennedy had medical ailments while in office that were not openly discussed.
Looking Deeper
What are the implications of coming forward with medical issues of The President Of The United States?
Most importantly the view of The Nation in the eyes of the world. Being a world super power leaked information on unhealthy American leader can give countries around the world an opinion that America itself is weak. Almost as if The President is the spokesperson for the health of the US. While the health of one person absolutely does not implicate the health of the nation it is easy to see how general populous abroad can come to that conclusion. Especially in the case of global summits such as G20. Can you imagine what would happen to the popular opinion if the US President himself did not attend?
Public Opinion
Secondly, the US general public. With a President in poor health the economy and overall moral will suffer. This was the main reason cited by Grover Cleveland to have his tumor removed out of the public eye. Part of The Presidents job is to keep moral of the people in check. You can think of it like children to a parent. When your mom or dad gets sick, how do you react? You are pre-occupied. You may find it hard to focus, be late to work and not preform to you best ability. This mental pre-occupation will have negative economic effects which will be nationwide.
Military Moral
Lastly, our military. As Commander-In-Chief our military looks to him as top rank over every NCO or Officer in rank. Even higher than the Secretary Of Defense of which he appointed. Our military is physically and mentally strong and ready to deploy at a moments notice. There is no question. However will the rest of the world know that? Would a President in ill health signal an open door to test our military might? I sincerely doubt it.
This is an article with personal opinion. I invite you to leave yours below in the comments section. How would knowing your President is ill effect your daily goings on?