Some people think that Chris Christie is much too out of shape to effectively hold office...

[MADem]

123. No it isn't. It's a job that requires movement. Just boarding AF1 at Andrews requires

the ability to climb a long flight of stairs. There is no terminal and no magic jetway--you climb those stairs and they are steep. Getting to Marine 1 necessitates a long walk across a lawn. It is a job full of long walks through tunnels, back kitchens, service passageways, etc., the need to climb stairs to stages and podia, and a schedule that is jam-packed from sunup to sundown and beyond, nearly every day of the week. It hasn't been a "desk job" for almost a century.

I have WATCHED the super-obese governor try to clamber up on a stage and gasp for breath. I've seen him get all excited and start wheezing and trying to catch his breath. I've seen him walk and stop, walk and stop. These aren't secret files--they're readily available on this thing called the internet.

FDR would not have been elected had the nation known how gravely ill he was. He lasted, what--six months into his final term? The voters certainly weren't enamoured of Truman--when FDR died, everyone girded their loins and prepared for the worst. We were very lucky that he rose to the challenge so admirably.

We, as a nation, spend a fortune every time we change leaders. We have a right to know if the candidates are capable of doing the job. It's why we have much more transparency than we did seventy or eighty years ago.