Hillary Clinton’s case of pneumonia may not reveal as much about her health as about her barricaded style of campaigning.
In several damage-control interviews Monday, staff for the Democratic presidential nominee admitted they could have done a better job of disclosing that she’s suffering from a case of pneumonia that led to her wobbling exit from the Sept. 11 memorial service at Ground Zero Sunday morning.
“I think that in retrospect, we could have handled it better in terms of providing more information more quickly,” Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon told MSNBC.
Clinton’s doctor diagnosed her with pneumonia on Friday, but she didn’t admit it until after the incident at Ground Zero led to widespread speculation about her health status. Fallon said Monday that Clinton will disclose more medical details this week, but the situation left Democrats shaking their heads.
“Hopefully they will put this behind them once they release more information, but the damage has already been done,” said Jim Manley, a former staffer for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.
Clinton’s handling of the situation, which may have been prevented had her campaign been more forthcoming initially, is typical Clinton behavior, Manley said.
“Sometimes they focus too much on privacy and they allow these stories to spin out of control,” he said.
Before the weekend, speculation about Clinton’s health had been mostly pushed by right-wing media outlets and her Republican presidential opponent, Donald Trump, who has sought to portray her as too physically weak to be president.
But the incident Sunday sparked widespread scrutiny, even without help from Trump, who said little about the incident other than wishing her well and announcing he would disclose his own medical records this week.
“I hope she gets well soon, I don’t know what’s going on. I’m like you. I just see what I see … the coughing fit was a week ago, so I assume that was pneumonia also,” Trump said Monday morning on Fox and Friends, referring to a coughing fit that hit Clinton during a Labor Day address, forcing her to stop speaking and drink water several times.
A report by Politico put the focus on Clinton’s intake of water. Several sources close to Clinton told the website that she’s chronically dehydrated because she is reluctant to drink water, to the point that it’s become a “source of tension with her staff.”
And while some Democrats sought to downplay the episode, with Sen. Chuck Schumer announcing he recently had pneumonia, others gave a reaction that could only make the Clinton camp cringe. While announcing vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine for a campaign speech, former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland said Kaine is “ready to become the president” if necessary.
Clinton has canceled her campaign stops for the early part of the week so she can rest, and it’s not clear when she will resume travel, although her doctor has said she is being treated with antibiotics and making a good recovery.
Directly answering reporters’ questions about her health could go a long way in assuring voters, but her campaign hasn’t announced any press conferences. And Clinton aides were still somewhat evasive during interviews Monday, when asked how soon they were told about the case of pneumonia.
Asked repeatedly by MSNBC host Kate Snow if he knew about the diagnosis before she fell ill in public, spokesman Robby Mook said he wasn’t going to “get into details about who knew her medical information.”
“She made a determination with her doctor that she’d power through this,” he said. “She didn’t want it to affect anything and obviously this on Sunday, when she got overheated, it was clear she needed some downtime.”
The incident shone the health spotlight directly on Clinton, even though Trump is two years older. Trump, if elected, would be the oldest U.S. president in history. Clinton would be the second-oldest president, just behind Ronald Reagan.
Both have released limited medical information: Trump, in the form of a short note from his doctor, and Clinton, with a longer, more detailed letter from her physician.
