Sunday, March 30, 2008

Chelsea's "brave" response

After thinking about this for days, I've decided that I have not jumped on the "Chelsea is a hero" bandwagon regarding her response to a college student asking her about her father's affair with Monica Lewinsky. Apparently, a student at Butler University in Indianapolis asked Chelsea if her mother's credibility had been harmed by her father's affair with Lewinsky. Chelsea responded that no one had asked her that before, and that it was none of their business. On first glance by many, this seemed to be a strong and bold reply. However, I disagree. Chelsea is no longer a teenager with braces living in the White House with her mom and dad. In fact, she is a twenty-eight year old woman with an undergraduate degree from Stanford and a graduate degree from Oxford. She is no longer a little girl who needs to be protected. While I understand that her father's affair surely affected her personally, the choice to campaign for her mother negates her wish to discuss things she would rather not talk about. The choice to NOT campaign for her mother would have allowed her to legitimately opt out of discussing these events. Her choice to campaign, however, changes things. Even if she didn't choose to answer the question, her response to the student that "...I do not think it is any of your business" is questionable. It seems that it IS our business because the events in question happened in the White House and certainly affected the political landscape. I, for one, am hesitant to place Hillary Clinton in the position of the President of the United States due to these Clinton shenanigans.

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