Before he suffered a heart attack late last year, presidential candidate Bernie Sanders made Democratic voters a promise: He said he would release his medical records in their entirety, because “the American people have the right to know whether the person they’re going to be voting for for president is healthy.”
That promise remains unmet, and it will likely stay that way, according to the Vermont senator himself. “We have released, I think … quite as much as any other candidate has,” he said during a CNN town hall on Tuesday when asked why he hadn’t released any more medical records.
“We released two rather detailed letters from cardiologists and we released a letter that came from the head of the U.S. Congress medical group, the physicians there. So I think we have released a detailed report, and I’m comfortable with what we have done,” Sanders continued, adding that his campaign would not disclose any further information and encouraging voters to meet him “on the campaign trail” if they have doubts about his health.
This is a problem. Sanders is a 78-year-old man who had a heart attack just four months ago. Questions about his health are not unwarranted; they’re necessary. U.S. citizens casting their votes for Sanders are doing so under the assumption that he will represent them and lead this country for the next four years, and that he will do so competently. Thus, Sanders’s cognitive and physical health should be taken into consideration.
Sanders’s campaign press secretary, Briahna Gray, dismissed these concerns as “smears” and tried to say Michael Bloomberg, who is also 78, had “suffered heart attacks,” too. Not only is this a false accusation — Bloomberg had two stents implanted in his coronary artery in 2000 but has never had a heart attack — but it’s also a lazy attempt to shield Sanders from criticism. The situation is quite straightforward: Sanders promised to release his medical records but is now refusing to do so. The least he should do but hasn’t done, is provide an explanation.
Sanders’s lack of transparency is hypocritical. He routinely attacks President Trump — who, at 74 this June, is no spring chicken, either — for refusing to disclose his tax records and lying to the public. How is this any different? Sanders promised to be different, but he’s exhibiting the same evasive behavior he claims to hate.
Sanders signed his right to privacy away the moment he decided to run for president. The public deserves to know if there are health issues that could affect his job performance. And considering Sanders would be the oldest president ever inaugurated, there’s a very real chance his age could become a problem. Sanders owes it to his supporters and to the rest of the nation to be upfront and honest. What’s the holdup?
