Migraine politics

The fact that congresswoman and presidential candidate Michele Bachmann
gets migraine headaches should have no bearing on her candidacy. There’s
something else going on, however, just under the surface. The “concern”
from both the left and the right over Bachmann’s health seems more like
a dog whistle on the whole gender issue. What’s next? Investigating
whether she can lead when suffering from PMS?
 
One can only barely recall more than a mere mention of the fact that Vice President Biden had suffered two life-threatening brain aneurysms as well as a pulmonary embolism as a younger man — so serious, in fact, that he once was given “last rites” in his hospital bed. Yet no one seemed concerned in 2008, as he was placed on the ticket to be one heartbeat away from the presidency, that this could be an issue.
 
I’m all for fully vetting any and all presidential candidates, and regret that the current occupant of the White House was not vetted more thoroughly. But until someone can make a credible case that Bachmann’s migraines are on a par with, or more significant than, Biden’s brain aneurysms, Dick Cheney’s heart problems, John McCain’s skin cancer or Barack Obama’s smoking habit, all this “concern” accomplishes little more than making an electorate uncomfortable with what seems to be a bit of a double standard.