Chelsea Clinton has been widely praised for her response to a question at Butler University yesterday about how Monica Lewinsky
might have affected her motherâ??s candidacy for president.
â??I donâ??t think that is any of your business,â?? Chelsea Clinton shot back.
The Lewinsky saga probably caused more pain for Chelsea than any of us can imagine, and who doesnâ??t want to move on from an incident that happened more than a decade ago. After all, the nation faces truly serious problems.
Yet, was her response the best one? The answer seemed to imply that questions about events that affect political candidates are off limits.
Should she instead have said something along the lines of, â??That happened a long time ago and itâ??s in the past. This campaign is looking to the future.â??
What do you think?
â??I donâ??t think that is any of your business,â?? Chelsea Clinton shot back.
The Lewinsky saga probably caused more pain for Chelsea than any of us can imagine, and who doesnâ??t want to move on from an incident that happened more than a decade ago. After all, the nation faces truly serious problems.
Yet, was her response the best one? The answer seemed to imply that questions about events that affect political candidates are off limits.
Should she instead have said something along the lines of, â??That happened a long time ago and itâ??s in the past. This campaign is looking to the future.â??
What do you think?
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Chelsea was young at the time of the incident and the affect on her is understandably great. However, welcome to presidential politics. If you're going to have your 20-something kid stump for you in front college kids and other 20-somethings, then she may be asked personal and/or tough questions. She can choose to answer them or not. But, she should be prepared to at least address a question like that. Otherwise, she might as well say vote for my mom... just because she's my mom and she's really nice. What kid doesn't think that?!!! Young people Chelsea's age are running for local and statewide offices. Chelsea has grown up in a political family (Dad AND Mom). So, I guess I expect a little more polish from her.
A favorite saying of Harry S. Truman
This is another case of Don't vote for so-n-so because of who they are associated with Some may see Chelsea either as a spoiled little brat with no social skills because she didn't answer a question with a PC answer. I just see her as a normal human which reacts to a situation like anyone who has not actually addressed a family issue. It doesn't matter if it was a year ago, 10 years ago or longer, when someone goes through a situation like this, it affects more than just the person going through it, it affects the relationship as well as any family members that are very close (children, grandchildren, etc...)
Sometimes we fail to see that politicians and their families are average human-beings who may slip up or react with natural emotions every so often. If you don't like the answer, don't ask the question.
Thats kind of like saying, if you don't want to know the truth, just remain ignorant and don't ask, This is the core of the Clinton campaign, keep it vague...then just back fill the rest of the speech with lofty promises..blah blah health care for everyone, blah blah, experience, global warming...
Chelsea was asked: What is your opinion on the criticism of your mother that how she handled the Lewinsky scandal might be a sign of weakness and she might not be a strong enough candidate to be president?
The question was completely valid and her defensive response was emotionally out of proportion. It was actually asked by a Clinton supporter that later said It's not something I asked to cause trouble but to show those people what makes Hillary so strong.
I read it as further evidence of the Clinton family's bloated sense of entitlement to the Democratic nomination. They can't believe anyone would dare bring up the past, and can't believe someone is actually beating them.
The campaign trail, especially THIS one, can get rough. Somewhere along the line, a question like that should be expected.
Ask Chelsea all you want, but she made it clear, for her, this was personal -- not gonna' talk about it. (Altho I was surprised she was so indignant that someone would even ask.)
Interesting post, Bob. Of the 8 questions you posed, 3 of them are about minorities. You know the answer to #6, but you seem to think it's funny to equate Jesse and Barack. You also know the answer to your question #7. If it will help you (and your stale sense of humor), NO candidate for the party's nomination will build their cabinet nor announce their VP at this stage. (Am I helping to legitimize your joke and to assist in the attempt to be witty)? I assume you make more than $100k (which may be proof that bigots can come in multiple income categories) and that's the reason for question #8. Perhaps on your internal clock it's 1955 but I assure you that the rest of the country is moving forward and you need to adjust your personal clock.
Tony, just in case I missed something... didn't Barack say he supports selective bombing the region between Iraq and Pakistan and a few days later, we did just that?
Ask the Butler student how many people his mother slept with before she married his father......