Can We Stop Pretending The White House Can’t Deal With An Unhealthy President?

The latest rumor about Joe Biden’s health — that he has Parkinson's disease — reminds me of a rather common misconception Americans have about the Executive Branch: That they’re unable to deal with the same unfortunate circumstances of the President getting the same illnesses that all of us can catch. This is not even the first election cycle where such claims were made — and against a Democrat, no less — as near the end of the 2016 Presidential Election, concerns about the health of Hillary Clinton started to appear after she was diagnosed with pneumonia following a bizarre appearance at the a 9/11 memorial service around the same time.

What I find odd about these concerns is they depend upon the notion that an unhealthy President would somehow be beyond their ability to perform their duties — but President’s are able to engage in official business while also being ill. In 1992, the first George Bush was able to engage in productive conversation with various leaders in Asia and the Pacific despite being sick — at least, sick enough to end up vomiting on then-Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa. Meanwhile, even if Biden does have Parkinson’s, so do do many successful people who have managed to help the world even after their unfortunate circumstances. Pope John Paul II spent the last fourteen years of his…