Can Chelsea Clinton Handle the Heat?
As Chelsea Clinton crosses the country stumping for her mother, toting an adorable child and incubating another one, it is occasionally hard to remember that she is no longer the frizzy-haired, braces-clad teenager that we recall from Bill Clinton’s ascendance to the White House—that vulnerable young woman who had to grin and bear it as her parents’ marital troubles played out in the most public forum imaginable. But for all intents and purposes, she and her family still present her as an avatar of her younger self—even if the 35-year-old now sits on the boards of numerous nonprofits and corporations and lives in a $10 million apartment.
By and large, the media has allowed the Clintons to maintain this posturing, perhaps out of some reflexive guilt, or maybe because Clinton handled the humiliation with extraordinary sangfroid. Either way, the moratorium appears to be over. This morning Politico published an article titled “Time for Chelsea Clinton’s Easy Ride to End,” in which veteran media critic Jack Shafer chronicles the growing frustration of the political press over the former First Daughter, a grown-up public figure who, he argues, still expects to enjoy the “cone of deference” afforded to White House children. “The time for treating her as a fragile kid has long passed,” Shafer wrote, arguing that she was not a “goodwill ambassador” with solely a ceremonial function. “She’s an educated (Stanford, Columbia, Oxford), mature, wealthy, campaign surrogate and a well-connected ex-journalist who knows the score.”
In some respects, Shafer has a point. While the Clinton campaign has hesitated to make her a full-fledged proxy, Chelsea has been deployed as an unofficial surrogate—and an important one at that. Chelsea, who was born in 1980, can help deliver her fellow millennials to Hillary, who is struggling to attract young voters, especially young women, who overwhelmingly favor Bernie Sanders.
In this role, however, occasional moments of her past shyness emerge. Absent the preternatural political talents of her parents, Chelsea doesn’t always seem to connect. She also present some relatability issues. The ex-McKinsey consultant is married to a hedge-fund manager, sits on the board of media conglomerate I.A.C., serves as the vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, owns a very expensive apartment in Manhattan, and has an estimated net worth in the millions. It's a life that cash-strapped, indebted young women might not be able to identify with. The Clinton campaign has had better luck with fellow Hillary surrogate and Girls actress Lena Dunham, 29, who has not shied away from scrutiny. But it is highly unlikely that the Clintons would, for instance, intervene with a major news network and declare Dunham off-limits, as they did for Chelsea when she was 27.
But as Hillary shifts into attack mode ahead of the New Hampshire primary, making her opening moves during Thursday night’s fiery debate, Chelsea’s honeymoon may be coming to an end. With the presidential field rapidly narrowing, Republican opponents may soon focus their fire on the fundraising practices of the Clinton Foundation, where Chelsea holds a prominent role. Amid a flurry of controversy over Hillary’s ties to Wall Street, Chelsea’s marriage to hedge fund co-founder and former Goldman Sachs banker Marc Mezvinsky could also prove troublesome. Chelsea, who may one day harbor her own political aspirations, will have to come up with answers for these inquiries. If she hopes to embrace her role in public life, she had best prepare for the same scrutiny her mother has famously survived.
As Chelsea Clinton crosses the country stumping for her mother, toting an adorable child and incubating another one, it is occasionally hard to remember that she is no longer the frizzy-haired, braces-clad teenager that we recall from Bill Clinton’s ascendance to the White House—that vulnerable young woman who had to grin and bear it as her parents’ marital troubles played out in the most public forum imaginable. But for all intents and purposes, she and her family still present her as an avatar of her younger self—even if the 35-year-old now sits on the boards of numerous nonprofits and corporations and lives in a $10 million apartment.
By and large, the media has allowed the Clintons to maintain this posturing, perhaps out of some reflexive guilt, or maybe because Clinton handled the humiliation with extraordinary sangfroid. Either way, the moratorium appears to be over. This morning Politico published an article titled “Time for Chelsea Clinton’s Easy Ride to End,” in which veteran media critic Jack Shafer chronicles the growing frustration of the political press over the former First Daughter, a grown-up public figure who, he argues, still expects to enjoy the “cone of deference” afforded to White House children. “The time for treating her as a fragile kid has long passed,” Shafer wrote, arguing that she was not a “goodwill ambassador” with solely a ceremonial function. “She’s an educated (Stanford, Columbia, Oxford), mature, wealthy, campaign surrogate and a well-connected ex-journalist who knows the score.”
In some respects, Shafer has a point. While the Clinton campaign has hesitated to make her a full-fledged proxy, Chelsea has been deployed as an unofficial surrogate—and an important one at that. Chelsea, who was born in 1980, can help deliver her fellow millennials to Hillary, who is struggling to attract young voters, especially young women, who overwhelmingly favor Bernie Sanders.
In this role, however, occasional moments of her past shyness emerge. Absent the preternatural political talents of her parents, Chelsea doesn’t always seem to connect. She also present some relatability issues. The ex-McKinsey consultant is married to a hedge-fund manager, sits on the board of media conglomerate I.A.C., serves as the vice chair of the Clinton Foundation, owns a very expensive apartment in Manhattan, and has an estimated net worth in the millions. It's a life that cash-strapped, indebted young women might not be able to identify with. The Clinton campaign has had better luck with fellow Hillary surrogate and Girls actress Lena Dunham, 29, who has not shied away from scrutiny. But it is highly unlikely that the Clintons would, for instance, intervene with a major news network and declare Dunham off-limits, as they did for Chelsea when she was 27.
But as Hillary shifts into attack mode ahead of the New Hampshire primary, making her opening moves during Thursday night’s fiery debate, Chelsea’s honeymoon may be coming to an end. With the presidential field rapidly narrowing, Republican opponents may soon focus their fire on the fundraising practices of the Clinton Foundation, where Chelsea holds a prominent role. Amid a flurry of controversy over Hillary’s ties to Wall Street, Chelsea’s marriage to hedge fund co-founder and former Goldman Sachs banker Marc Mezvinsky could also prove troublesome. Chelsea, who may one day harbor her own political aspirations, will have to come up with answers for these inquiries. If she hopes to embrace her role in public life, she had best prepare for the same scrutiny her mother has famously survived.
