Secretary Clinton's health is yet again another reason for allowing this horrible campaign to reach a "non-return" low. Her aversion to exhibitionism is perfectly understandable, especially given the relative banality of her ailment. Unfortunately, indiscretion and travesty caught up, since by now most standards of tact and restraint no longer apply. She is being accused (yet again) of self-aggrandizing syndrome on all sides. True, she should even be more aware of the reigning vulgar manipulative scrutiny. Refusing to adhere to the Barnum rules comes at a price. Trump's ringmaster tactics have marginalized any form of discretion and style which one would normally expect from a presidential nominee. The media (not only Fox) and some insecure journalists, or plainly unabashed liars, play an immoral role in this very bad play.
I cannot recall any other general election in a Western democracy that comes close to the current travesty of truth-telling or civilized behavior. One hallucinates at the idea of a Trump Supreme Court/nuclear and foreign policy/war on every other category of "dissenters". An inward looking America endangers self-respect and the respect outside. It would weaken innovation and turn its future topsy-turvy.
Susan Sontag might have come to the conclusion that America's illness is not a metaphor but a potential death sentence. Compared to this larger existential menace, Secretary Clinton's little health non-event amounts to too little to be dwelt upon for too long. She should, nevertheless, not feed the narrative by appearing to be too impervious. "Distance" nowadays has become an endangered species.
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