Chelsea, once (and possibly future) first daughter
When Chelsea Clinton takes the stage to introduce her mother as the Democratic nominee for president at the convention in Philadelphia tonight, many in the hall and in the TV audience will be remembering other moments in the life of this woman whom they have been watching since she was a little girl.
There is the image of the awkward preteen with an unruly cascade of curls and a mouth full of braces, who favored tie-dyed T-shirts and held White House sleepovers, back when her parents fiercely protected her privacy.
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There is the iconic photo of the tall high school student, walking across the lawn with the president and first lady in the midst of Bill Clinton’s impeachment hearings, holding their hands and looking like the bridge keeping her small family together.
There is the Stanford undergraduate, then Oxford University graduate student, choosing schools across the country and then the ocean from her parents’ long shadow; and the young businesswoman in New York, moving closer as she became more comfortable with the family business. There is the fledgling political surrogate, finding her voice during the 2008 campaign, when she gave her first speeches and proved to be a particularly helpful presence at college campuses. There is her wedding, by which time she was fully a part of the trio at the helm of the Clinton Foundation, still somehow sending off the vibe that she prefers to be anyplace but in the spotlight while simultaneously poised and magnetic in it.
And tonight, another snapshot in an album spent in that light, stepping forward as a 36-year-old mother of two, because her own mother needs her. Rather than a bridge between her parents, this time she is to be a bridge between Hillary Clinton and the country. Given the Democratic nominee’s high disapproval ratings with voters, the campaign is looking to Chelsea to humanize the former secretary of state, describing her as a mother, a grandmother, a friend.
It will be a bookend of the role played exactly a week earlier by Ivanka Trump — another polished and sophisticated young woman who has proved an excellent spokesperson for a parent. Either ironically or unsurprisingly, depending on your perspective, the two are friends, with somewhat overlapping social circles and a shared awareness of what it’s like to grow up in a high-wattage household. (The relationship is said to be strained lately, as her mother and Ivanka’s father engage in political combat. Chelsea and Ivanka put their friendship on ice.)
And, should her mother win, there is blank space in the album for snapshots of a future role. Both Hillary and Bill have said the Clinton Foundation, for which Chelsea now works, will not continue in its current incarnation should a Clinton return to the White House. There is talk of Chelsea’s playing some of the role of first lady — hosting events, overseeing social occasions — because few can imagine Bill Clinton choosing menus or decorating Christmas trees. But while Ivanka has said that she and her husband, Jared Kushner, would definitely play a role in a Trump administration, Chelsea has demurred when asked.
Odds are that there will be no pressure from her mother to do so if she chooses not to. As Hillary Clinton once said, “I want to respect her choices like my mother respected my choices. I’m going to let her life unfold at her pace.”
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