I can’t claim this as an original thought, because I am stealing it from a friend of mine, but candidates’ health must become a major issue in determining their fitness for a job.

We’ve had too many presidents of the United States taking office while hiding serious illness. My friend notes that President Wilson suffered a debilitating stroke during his second term, President Cleveland suffered from cancer, President Franklin Roosevelt sought to conceal his wheelchair, President Kennedy suffered from Addison’s disease.

All those ailments were serious enough to consider even now, so many years after these men served in the highest office in the land. Indeed, FDR won election to a fourth term in 1944 while suffering from an ailment that would kill him a month after taking office in 1945. He was virtually a dead man when he planned the final assault on the Axis Powers near the end of World War II.

We had those phony questions about President Biden’s mental acuity during his term in office. Leading that charade was former White House physician and current Texas Panhandle congressman and loudmouth Ronny Jackson.

But my point is that a candidate’s health must be front and center on the issue to be discussed and examined. The candidates ought to be required to present physicians statements as to their physical well-being … as well as their mental alertness. And they should be prepared to refute any claims of ill health if they arise during the campaign.