I became aware of the interview John Fetterman (running for US senate in Pennsylvania against Dr. Oz) gave to NBC. I read about it in Slate before actually watching the interview. What I learned from the article was that he had a stroke in May. He’s back and says that he can still serve. He is saying that the disability is temporary and he will be back to normal one day.
Let’s put aside the latter sentiment for a minute. Let’s start with the interview, which I watched once I was at my laptop. From the start, I was put off because the interviewer for NBC noted that things were very different, that he was using closed caption, etc. Why did she need to note that? I mean, I have to wear glasses when I read, but that’s not noted every time I talk.
I’m not going to go hard on her for mentioning accommodations or the fact that he had a stroke. By the way, I’m having to rewatch the interview as I type this because I don’t remember everything in detail, even though I watched it an hour ago or so. That’s one of my issues with my ischemic stroke (not sure what kind he had), by the way. My short-term memory isn’t as good as it used to be.
I want to talk about that for a minute. I had a phenomenal memory before my medical crisis. I could remember long conversations and videos I had seen in detail. I never forgot a name, no matter how long it had been since I saw someone. Now, however, it’s different.
I can still retain information I read/see, but sometimes I have to refresh my memory before getting the full recall. I don’t remember people’s names immediately the way I once did, and sometimes, I have trouble recalling who I told what to. I have forgotten words now and again, so when Fetterman said empathetic, paused and said, emphatic and could not be sure which he meant, I related to that.
One of the lasting issues I have is with forgetting a word. I can tell you what the word means, so, if it were empathetic, I could tell you feeling what other people are feeling, but not the word itself. Normally, if I’m thinking about a word, I can ‘see’ it in my head. Now, if I can’t think of it, I can pull up the page, but the page will be stubbornly blank. So the description will float in my head, but the word itself will not show up.
I could tell by watching the interview that Fetterman understood the questions. Him having to read them rather than hear them is such a nothing-burger to me. Again, I can’t read without glasses, but that doesn’t mean I can’t understand the words on the page once I can actually read them.
I will say him insisting that he would be back to normal one day was, gently put, wishful thinking. I mean, it could happen, yes. He said he was improving every day, which is probably true. But that doesn’t mean that he will go back to how he was before or that he should even work for that goal.
I was incredibly lucky in that I needed no rehab once I left the hospital for my stroke or cardiac arrests. I asked Ian when he came to visit me if he had not known what I had gone through, would he have guessed. He said without hesitation that no, he would not have.
There are, however, compensations I’ve had to make, but they are lightning-fast. I do not have auditory sensory processing issues unless I’m super-tired. Even then, it’s very slight. If I’m concentrating on the information, I’m find. I’ve always preferred reading it, however, than listening.
Back to the interview. I was pissed off when she asked for his medical records. He pointed out he had produced a doctor’s note saying he was fine to continue, and she said that was months ago. I would point out that he’s probably improving rather than getting worse, but they could ask for another note.
I will say that I did not trust what the last’s president’s doctor said about him, so there is that. That’s more about reputable information, though, and I would not have believed any medical record for that president, either.
Then, the question of whether Fetterman was soft on crime made me shout at the screen. It’s such a Republican framing of the issue and a terrible question to ask. That has nothing to do with the stroke, though, but it’s my gripe about political news in general. The stations are all owned by Republicans, so of course the news is going to lean conservative.
Fetterman can’t say he’ll get back to where he was before, though. He doesn’t know that. He’s been making progress, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to continue. I am incredibly lucky in that I have had minimal changes with my stroke, but they have not going away after a year. This is the new normal for me, which means finding ways to deal with the issues that have arisen from my stroke. Granted, for me that means taking more notes than before, mostly, and being patient with myself when I can’t remember a word. Sometimes, I’ll describe the meaning of the word in order to get to the word. It’s very rare when I cannot remember the word at all. If that’s the case, then I just substitute it with another. There are plenty of words and I don’t need to get stuck on one.
The conservatives are being absolutely vile in their response to the interview, per usual. They mercilessly mock those with disabilities unless it’s one of their own. Which is their MO in general. Or rather, the human condition in general, but the conservatives take it to the extreme. If Fetterman were a conservative, they would be touting his bravery and his attempt to get back to a ‘normal’ life. Because he’s a Democrat, however, they have to mock him about it instead.
That’s not limited to Republicans, by the way. Plenty of Democrats mocked the last president when he tripped on a ramp for example. It’s a marker of ‘them versus us’ and who gets to be in the in-group. However, I do think the Republicans go harder at it than do Dems, but that’s their MO in particular.
Look. Fetterman should absolutely be assessed for his fitness to be a senator, but simply having a stroke is not enough to categorically disqualify him from running. As I’ve said before, I had two cardiac arrests and an ischemic stroke within twenty minutes. I was unconscious for a week, and then woke up fine. Shaky, yes, but fine. I could run for political office if I wanted (which I don’t, thank you very much) and be perfectly fine to serve.
Judge Fetterman on his merits as you would any other candidate. His having a stroke, especially so recently, is one factor, but it shouldn’t be the be-all, end-all. I hope the voters of Pennsylvania will be able to keep that in mind.