Presidential Health

Today, Barack Obama released his medical records, and a doctor's report describing his health as excellent. Last week, John McCain reported on his own good health in a document that was unexceptional except for its length: 1,176 pages.

Obama's doctor noted that the senator has smoked cigarettes "intermittently" for most of his adult life, although he is currently using nicotine gum in attempting to end the habit.

It's a lot of information, much of it of questionable value (especially in 1,176 pages).

One ponders the relevance of health documents at all for a job that lasts only 4 years, and where serious disease, in the past, has proven irrelevant to job performance. Franklin Roosevelt had polio when he took the job, and performed well enough (and lived long enough) to be elected to 4 terms.

Maybe the really relevant documentation would be of mental health. If we got that tested and saw those records, we might never have had Watergate, nor the war in Iraq.

Steve Burke
for Ithaca Blog