Back in the days of Franklin Roosevelt, media discussion of a President's health problems was distinctly off-limits.  Although FDR was paralyzed from the waist down due to polio, he was rarely photographed in public in his wheelchair or wearing his leg braces. Decades later, President Kennedy was afforded almost the same media blackout in regards to his colitis and the severe side effects that resulted from his chronic treatment with steroids.

It's a different story these days, when anyone in...