• Twentytwodividedby7@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    I love John Fetterman, but he did have a mild stroke and spent a month in treatment for depression while in office. He’s great, but I don’t think he is President material. I don’t hold either of those things against him, and mental health is important, but no way do you convince the public that all is fine

    • Drusas@kbin.social
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      11 months ago

      That’s some ableist shit right there. The other representatives just hide their problems.

      • PorkSoda@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Genuinely serious where you draw the line when it comes to the health of a candidate.

        Someone with three previous heart attacks? Someone with anxiety?

        I ask that last one as someone with anxiety and a trigger being stress. To me those are not ableist concerns. Though the previous commenter could have used a better phrase than “presidential material.”

        • PrinceWith999Enemies@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          I’m responding as a hiring manager for a big tech company.

          I am not allowed, by law as well as very strict company policy, to ask any questions relating to the candidate’s health. I can’t know whether they’ve had four heart attacks, plan to get pregnant in the next six months, had a history of psychological issues, or anything like that. I think that most people would generally agree that’s a very good thing.

          There are certainly roles where physical performance is key to the job, and so they’re able to take that kind of thing into account.

          I guess what I’m saying is that, while your concern is of course valid, it feels different because we tend to see the president as someone with more of a job than, say, a senior software engineer. Okay, that’s fair in a very real sense. But I think that it’s different between the president and a prime minister, and that’s where it gets interesting. I think there’s an idealization of the role of president. And, bizarrely, that’s one reason Trump was so wrong but so beloved by so many.

          • Twentytwodividedby7@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            The US doesn’t have a Prime Minister, so what the hell are you talking about? And the president is not hired, they are elected, so everything you mentioned around employee protections is irrelevant

        • Twentytwodividedby7@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          Why would I use a different phrase? Being the president of the United States is one of the hardest, most stressful jobs in the world. You make decisions every day that change the course of history. There are very few people suited to that.