Hillary's knees buckle

Hillary Clinton, who has been dogged by questions about her health (and, by extension, questions about her fitness to serve in the nation's highest office for four to eight years), suffered a collapse, of sorts, as she exited a 9/11 Ground Zero ceremony early because of what some journos are calling "a medical episode." Some online news outlets are using the euphemism "wobble" to describe what happened to Clinton as she tried to step into a waiting vehicle in her motorcade, but if you watch the video, what you actually see is that Clinton's knees are locked at the beginning (probably to prevent her from falling); she teeters, then when she tries to step forward, her legs buckle, and she loses all power to keep herself upright. She is, after that, essentially manhandled into the vehicle while her entourage does its best to form a tight cordon that will prevent curious folks from videoing her collapse.

All sorts of hypotheses are flying around as to what ails Mrs. Clinton, and it seems, at long last, that questions about her health can no longer be dismissed as the ravings of marginal conspiracy theorists. One of her doctors has been quoted as claiming Clinton was diagnosed with pneumonia, which brought up more questions as to why she was allowed to have that staged on-the-street moment with the child. Conservative talking heads have been openly wondering whether Clinton is hiding Parkinson's disease; a recent article on how she balks at drinking water has caused some to insist that Parkinson's is likely: she could be experiencing "aspirational pneumonia," which is associated with Parkinson's and other conditions.

Personally, I do suspect something neurological, although I'd say the jury's very much out regarding whether it's definitively Parkinson's. My own reason for suspecting something neurological, though, comes from experience with my mother's brain cancer. As Mom's cancer progressed, it became more and more difficult to take her on walks in our local park. In the early stages, Mom walked along fairly strongly, needing help mainly with balance but not with strength. As the months went on, however, Mom's legs became weak, and there were a couple moments during which her legs would simply buckle, and we'd be there to catch her and heave upward to prevent her from hitting the ground or scraping her knees. Even for a woman as light as she was, Mom was surprisingly heavy when it was time to lift her back to her feet. Watching Clinton being manhandled into the black van reminded me of the times we manhandled Mom back into a wheelchair.

So I watched the video, and as much as I personally dislike Hillary Clinton, I felt sympathy for her the moment her knees buckled. Because I've been there. There are limits to my Schadenfreude. This doesn't change my opinion of Clinton, but if she is indeed contending with some progressively deteriorating neurological condition, I also can't ignore the fact that she's just a woman suffering the natural ravages of mortality. There will always be plenty of reasons to rip Hillary apart, but for me, this collapsing episode isn't one of them.