You probably heard me rolling my eyes the moment I read this shameless puff piece on Hillary Clinton from Newsweek, which gushes over a publicity stunt, portraying it as an example of leadership.
Hillary Clinton took to Twitter on Wednesday to thank all the people working to “save lives and keep us all going” during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Thank you to the medical professionals, grocery store employees, delivery drivers, pharmacy workers, mail carriers, firefighters, police, nursing home employees, and everyone else who is working to save lives and keep us all going right now,” the former Secretary of State and presidential hopeful wrote. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
And it appears Clinton, who lives in Chappaqua, New York, wanted to do more than just say thank you — and sent pizza to overworked doctors dealing with the rising number of COVID-19 cases in the state.
New York is struggling to deal with a shortage of medical supplies, but hey, Hillary Clinton sent doctors some pizza. Yay!
Newsweek shared a tweet from an E.R. doctor at St. John’s Riverside Hospital-Dobbs Ferry in Westchester County, which received the pizzas. “Thank you !!!! We NEED LEADERS LIKE YOU in this tough time,” she tweeted.
Amazing !!! I am an ER doctor at Dobbs Ferry NY and just received pizza from the Clintons. Thank you !!!! We NEED LEADERS LIKE YOU in this tough time. So much gratitude I didn’t know how else to reach you to say thank you – Angela cirilli, MD
— Angela cirilli (@cirilliang) March 25, 2020
I don’t doubt that getting a few pizzas was enjoyable for those who got them, but is sending pizzas to get some good publicity “leadership”?
Hospitals have some significant issues to tackle, such as medical supply shortages. The national stockpile of N95 respirator masks was depleted in 2009 during the H1N1 pandemic and was not restocked. Getting some free pizza isn’t going to solve that problem. While I’m sure it may have boosted morale (who doesn’t like an office pizza party?) it’s quite obvious Hillary wanted people to know it was her who made the pizza donation… because obviously by donating some pizzas she’s doing more than Trump is, right?
Am I being unfair? Obviously, Hillary Clinton is not in a position to do anything about medical supply shortages, unless she can go back in time and tell Barack Obama he needs to restock the Strategic National Stockpile. But, even if you give her the benefit of the doubt that it wasn’t a publicity stunt, praising her as a leader for sending a few pizzas to a hospital is laughable. Leadership is making the tough decision to ban travel with China to slow the spread of the coronavirus in the face of enormous criticism, only to be proven right when experts admitted that widely criticized decision saved lives.
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Matt Margolis is the author of Trumping Obama: How President Trump Saved Us From Barack Obama’s Legacy and the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis
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