Well, as you might expect, the whole family is on the campaign trail and has been since the beginning of Hillary Clinton’s Presidential campaign. I admire that and hope that it is becoming a wonderful bonding experience for all of them. I think Hilliary is a strong woman, and while I don’t always agree with her politics, I admire her drive and determination. I wasn’t so impressed, however, with her daughter. Now, to be fair and upfront, I don’t follow politics all that much nor do I know much about Chelsea Clinton. I just happened to catch a news story of her recent campaign visit to a local university and was interested in what she had to say. With the Indiana primaries fast approaching, we have seen and heard a lot from the candidates for President. My brother and his fiancee are getting ready to graduate from Butler University. So, when I heard that Chelsea was speaking there, I thought I’d listen to the report of her talk. She had the normal campaign type speech and was relating well to the audience until they annouced that they would take one last question. The student chosen for the question, however, caught Chelsea off guard with a query about her mother’s handling of the Monica Lewinsky incident. After a brief pause, Chelsea indicated to the student that after seventy such talks and Q&A’s at various schools, she had never been asked such a question and answered with “I don’t think that is any of your business!” Okay, I get the response from a daughter about her mother to a total stranger being nosey, but was it the right way to respond? She was applauded by the audience and seemed to be praised by the media report. In fact, when I first heard it, I thought to myself “you go girl!”, but then I thought “wait a minute, that was rude, and it IS our business how she handles personal, tough, confidential, embarrassing, and sensitive issues”. If Hillary Clinton wants to be the President of the United States and has made it clear that she is ready and able, shouldn’t she prove that she is up to the challenge. Shouldn’t her family be fully aware of the scrutiny you are under if you want and accept the position. They’ve been there before; they should be familiar with the job description. The White House is one place where I will expect her to set aside demure, lady-like behavior and step up to any challege. She won’t be able to sweep the uncomfortable questions under the rug like we women tend to do with an “I don’t think that is any of your business!” response.
How she handled her husband’s affair and the accusations that followed is personal. BUT if voters need to know if her actions at the time damaged her credibility in order to decide if she is up to challenges of a similar nature today, shouldn’t they all, Bill and Chelsea included, be able to formulate useful and intelligent responses to questions in that regard? Chelsea gave the knee jerk answer to a question that caught her off guard, but it really made me think. Maybe a better response could have been that “my mother would be best equipped to answer that question” OR “thank you for your concern, she is a strong and resilient woman and got through it the best that she could at the time” OR something, anything besides “I don’t think that is any of your business!”
I don’t know, maybe it’s just me. I didn’t like her response even as a women who wouldn’t have any problem telling someone to mind their own business. We’re picking a new President here. This person is one of the most powerful people in the world. Shouldn’t we expect full and complete answers to our questions especially those about situations that have impacted former holders of the same office. Am I being too hard on the daughter who was likely too young during the scandal to have understood its total impact on them as a family both personally and professionally? Is the whole thing just old news and really not anyone’s business anymore? Should I expect everyone speaking on the candidate’s behalf to be held to the same standards as the candidate herself? What do you think?
6 responses so far ↓
1 angela // Mar 26, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Not sure about her age and her response. However, you would think that she would be prepared for that question. It was huge during Clinton’s presidency and she should have been prepared with a good response. In politics, ALL things are on the table to be discussed.
2 cate // Mar 26, 2008 at 2:15 pm
I felt bad for Chelsea on this one. No one likes to be in a position of explaining something so personal let alone to strangers and to the media. I thought it was pretty unfair to be asked that question and while her response wasn’t as polished as responses from the canidates (or their handlers) I have no problem with it. She was caught off guard on a very sensitive subject (I would be mortified if that was my dad) and I would have responded the same exact way.
If its anyone’s fault its her mom’s campaign managers for not prepping her for those types of questions or telling people before hand they were off limits for whatever reason they deemed.
3 Tricia // Mar 26, 2008 at 2:23 pm
I think she actually WAS prepared for the question and prepared to give that answer. I mean, surely they knew it would come up eventually? And they have been prepping her and briefing her for years on how to deal with tough questions from audiences. I think she had been waiting all along to tell everyone that it was none of their business and is probably kind of glad that the question has been asked now and she doesn’t have to wait for it anymore.
4 Janet // Mar 26, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I agree that she probably would have gotten a better response from me had she said something about how courageous and strong her mother was in the heat of that issue. I think it would have put the thought in people’s minds that Hillary was a trooper who dealt with a difficult situation. Instead it put the thought in there that there are things in her life that although public are off limits. I would have to wonder what kind of cover she would create to handle a similar situation if it happens in her presidency.
5 Carrie // Mar 26, 2008 at 3:15 pm
If she wants to be out on the campaign trail then she needs to be prepared to answer questions like that and not in a rude, flippant way.
How Hillary handled the scandal, what her thoughts were on the impeachment process, charges of perjury, etc are all important issues. If someone would have asked something like “So Chelsea have you ever cheated on a boyfriend like your Dad did with Monica Lewinsky?” that would have been innapropriate and deserved such a retort.
6 Pat // Mar 27, 2008 at 10:26 am
I think that was rather a rude question to ask Chelsea. She was much younger when all of that happened so I don’t know if she could give an accurate assessment of this issue. Perhaps her answer could have been a little more polished, however. It was a non-answer without justification.
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