Cancer, disclosure,fitness to lead
Caveat: I’m no McCain supporter.
Caveat II: For any job tha’s less than running a country, I strongly believe disclosure of medical problems should be voluntary. If one’s doctor makes it perfectly clear that one can perform certain job duties with the condition, then the condition should be immaterial to whether or not a job is conferred. I’ve seen firsthand that even a voluntary disclosure can have emotionally disastrous results for an employee and for those who chose him.
This is no ordinary job. (FWIW I would have liked to have seen more on Obama’s and Palin’s health too, Biden has been fairly detailed about it…)
You have to pick people to run the Army, Navy and Air Force and give the final word on their deployments.
You have to keep long hours. It’s your responsibility to make sure you sleep when you can, eat correctly as far as possible, get some excersize in, because it’s your responsibility to stay fine tuned enough to do the job the voters select you to do.
Side effects of any medicine you take must impair judgement as little as possible to maintain health, because nobody wants the American President less than clearheaded, medically speaking.
You have to have a hand in reinventing health care and energy policy.
You have to pick people to assist with Cabinet posts…handle an economy that’s acting bipolar.
You have to ‘handle’ the Congress to some extent. (a bagful of angry cats comes to mind.)
You have to project calm competency and civility to people you don’t like 23 out of 24 hours a day, (I would hope that some moderately private bitching in the West Wing at the end of the day is tolerated, ’cause even the nicest Commander in Chief would not be healthy in his/her head if they didn’t have a moment to let loose) travel long hours to meet with foreign leaders, many of whom irritate you to no end, and some you’d rather spit at than talk to.
It would have been beyond me, even in the later half of my chemotherapy when I had returned to work, to have handled any of the above in a competent manner let alone all of them.
In and of itself that says nothing about McCain’s ability to handle the workload if another melanoma should appear.
(and for him, after freakin’ *torture* … Cancer in and of itself would be much less daunting, I expect.)
(Oh, and one line in the Times article *does* peeve me off. During his imprisonment after some particularly severe beatings, he did attempt suicide, so they raise concerns about why he’s never been diagnosed with any mental disorder.)
W.T.F!!!!????
If you’re being *tortured* it makes perfect sense that at one point you might try and end your life. No need for underqualified underpaid therapists to talktherapy you into anything, no need for meds *only* on that basis. If afterwards you also have longterm PSTD, that co workers, family, friends, believe is impacting you in a way that means you cannot function, then *yes* supports are in order.
On balance though I believe Senator McCain is uniquely required to disclose his history and potential scenarios that might affect his ability to function, remove him from office due to significant impairment or lead to his death in the next eight years…
Because the younger, healthier half of the ticket…
Is in no way qualified to take over for him, *which* *would* *be* *her* *job!*
Red Flags in El Paso County
From The Colorado Independent’s open letter to Governor Ritter
I wouldn’t have thought that El Paso County actually had that many, but, per the letter,
we also have more than 80,000 registered Democrats
Probably concentrated in the area of Old Colorado City, and other towns immediately south or west of the Springs, like Manitou Springs, right at the foot of Pikes Peak…
But the gentleman in charge of the elections there only does 75% of his job. He sends out mail in ballots as required, but is less than specific about the amount of postage needed :
In addition, Balink’s office has sent out more than 120,000 mail-in ballots, but with no warning to voters that the envelope will require 59 cents in postage to be delivered. The envelope merely says “adequate postage necessary,” with no indication to the public that more than a typical stamp is needed.
If voters in El Paso County do not choose mail in, they can vote early at only three locations. The malls at the northern and central part of the suburbs, and downtown. (Early voting or voting registrations near college campuses were either limited or scurbbed altogether.
To be fair to the county…the access to the three early voting locations is nowhere near as limited as it used to be for low income people or non drivers…the public transportation system is available many more hours and days than ten years ago, and connects to all three early voting locations mentioned above from Manitou and the south end of town.)
Denver, and it’s neighboring counties have many more early voting locations….
And, the voting machines in El Paso County ?
They’re the Diebold brand. You know, the kind that became famous…in Ohio, when the company CEO promised he could “deliver” the election to George W. Bush.
…the key to maximizing turnout (which may be Diebolded into being irrelevant, but we’ll see) … is a real effort to publicize the early voting and ways to get to the polls on Election Day that don’t involve a car, and a movement to get those to the polls that would be unaware of or unable to indepentently exersize their rigt to vote…
