One day, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, froze in the middle of delivering an answer at a press conference.
McConnell, 81, stared, not speaking and seemingly bewildered, for nearly 20 seconds before his Republican Senate colleagues led him away.
Later, McConnell tried to laugh the troubling moment off, making a joke about being “sandbagged” — an unsubtle reference to President Joe Biden’s recent stumble.
Biden is nine months younger than McConnell.
Not long after McConnell’s episode, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, seemed to grow confused during a voice vote. Instead of simply saying “aye,” Feinstein started to give what appeared to be a small speech.
A staffer stepped in and stopped her.
Feinstein and McConnell both have had a series of health battles. McConnell has taken at least three falls in recent months, including one in which he suffered a severe concussion. Feinstein endured a painful struggle with shingles that, among other things, left her with some facial paralysis and prevented her from attending to her Senate duties for several months.
McConnell, Feinstein, their colleagues and their staff attempt to downplay any concerns about the senators’ health.
Feinstein and friends contend that speculation about her health is intrusive, disrespectful and possibly sexist.
McConnell does so by engaging in the GOP pastime of belittling Biden’s age and faculties — apparently blind to the fact that arguing that age should disqualify someone younger than he is doesn’t offer the Kentucky senator much cover.
McConnell takes his cue from former President Donald Trump and his followers, who love to depict Biden as a drooling, doddering basket case.
Again, they seem unaware that insisting a senile old fool beat them in the 2020 presidential election and continues to thwart them doesn’t speak well of their leader’s capacities — or their judgment, for that matter.
It also ignores the reality that Trump’s health has been a source of speculation and worry. The tentative, creeping way he descends stairs and ramps and his frequent forays into conjuring up word salad when asked simple questions invite concern.
And, of course, he misled everyone about how close he came to dying when he was stricken with the coronavirus.
When it comes to issues of health and veracity, Trump is in no position to point fingers.
But the truth is that Biden’s health is a matter of legitimate public concern.
History offers troubling lessons about the dangers of presidents hiding medical conditions that affected or even endangered the nation.
Trump lied about how COVID affected him when a pandemic was ravaging the United States and the world.
Ronald Reagan may have tried to conceal the onset of dementia during the waning days of his presidency, a time when the Cold War was winding down and the entire world was nervous about what an unstable Soviet Union would do with its vast nuclear arsenal.
John F. Kennedy suffered from Addison’s disease, among other ailments, and was heavily medicated during the Cuban missile crisis, the days when the Earth came closest to annihilation during the atomic age.
Woodrow Wilson experienced a debilitating stroke after World War I and leaders around the globe were struggling to establish a lasting peace. Wilson also likely had had another stroke earlier, one he never disclosed. It altered his moods and his mindset at a time when he and the nation needed presidential self-possession desperately.
In some cases, the United States dodged the bullet and emerged from a challenge intact.
In other instances, the courses of history and human lives were altered because leaders misled the people they were supposed to serve.
Presidential health problems aren’t a president’s secret to keep.
They are the public’s business.
And so is the health of members of Congress and other high offices.
Elected office is not an entitlement. It is a duty, a sacred responsibility in a self-governing society.
The citizens who entrust leaders with tremendous power have a right to know that those leaders are up to using that power judiciously.
Mitch McConnell may try to joke away worries about his health. Dianne Feinstein may summon up spurious umbrage at being asked if she’s up to the job. And Donald Trump may try to distract attention from his own troubling behavior.
But they’re all in the wrong on this one. The issue isn’t age, but rather obligation.
The public owes them nothing. They, on the other hand, owe their fellow citizens the truth.
John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students, where this commentary originally appeared. The opinions expressed by the author do not reflect the views of Franklin College. Send comments to [email protected].
