Thursday, 04.10.08
The Monica Question
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Chelsea's answer has evolved since the question was first posed at Indiana's Butler University late in March. On that occasion, she replied with a terse: "I do not think that is any of your business." At N.C. State, her response was more elaborate. "I think that is something that is personal to my family; I'm sure there are things that are personal to your family that you don't think are anyone else's business, either," she told the questioner, but then added: "On a larger point, I don't think you should vote for or against my mother because of my father." At Purdue this week, she had a "let's talk about the issues" answer ready that was worthy of her Dad: "If that's what you want to vote on, that's what you should vote on. But I think there are other people (who are) going to vote on things like health care and economics."
The Lewinsky questioners are probably just out to claim a moment's campus notoriety, and there's obviously something deeply seamy involved in pestering a daughter about her father's adultery. The problem is that once you set aside issues of good manners and good taste, the question is a remarkably pertinent one - not for Chelsea, necessarily, but certainly for Hillary Clinton's Presidential campaign. True, the memory of Monica (and Paula, and Gennifer, and Kathleen, and Juanita) is extremely "personal" to the Clinton family. But it's also extremely political for the country; after all, the last time the Clintons occupied the White House, Chelsea's father's extracurricular activities helped create a minor constitutional crisis. And anyone being asked to vote for Hillary for President - and Bill, by extension, for "First Man" - has every reason to ask not only about the Clintons' past, but about their future, and how the state of their union will effect the state of ours.
In a sense, Hillary Clinton has been very skillful at avoiding this issue, and keeping the matter of her husband and her marriage in the background during this election season. (Bill has become a source of controversy, true, but it's been for other, more unexpected reasons.) But all this skill has gone for naught, and the Clinton campaign is poised to lose out to a rival who at least gives the appearance of greater candidness about his own psychodramas. (Dreams From My Father contains vastly more self-examination than Living History, and Obama's speech on race, while evasive in certain respects, felt far more personal than anything Hillary has had to say about about gender and marriage during the course of this campaign.) So while Chelsea Clinton has every reason not to answer questions about the Lewinsky scandal, the same calculus may not hold for her mother. It's at least possible that Hillary wouldn't be on the brink of losing the Democratic nomination if she had found a way to take on "the Monica question" more directly than she did.
The Third Coming?As Chelsea Clinton hits her stride on the campaign trail, Lloyd Grove asks the ultimate dynasty question: will Chelsea follow in her parents' political footsteps? |
Their coy mistressGuy Branum finds that Chelsea's role as a powerful advocate for her mother's campaign inevitably, and fairly, invites media scrutiny. |
Fair gameQuestioning Chelsea Clinton on the public statements her mother made about the Lewinsky affair is entirely "fair" and Chelsea's initial responses to such questioning were "nonsensical," argues Ramesh Ponnuru. |
When silence was goldenCamille Paglia accuses Bill Clinton of using his daughter as a mute sympathy prop during the Lewinsky scandal. |
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And by "helped to precipitate a constitutional crisis", you mean "served as the excuse for power-mad Republican thugs to use impeachment as a partisan tool". Blaming Bill Clinton for getting impeached is like blaming a rape victim for wearing a revealing outfit.
Chelsea was not asked "the Monica question" at Butler.
This was the student's question:
I just want to know your opinion of the criticism that Hillary showed weakness in how she handled the Lewinsky scandal, and that she may not be strong enough to be the President.
It's astounding how many people have commented on his question without knowing what the question was.
Also, the student wasn't out to claim "a moment's campus notoriety." He'd heard enough people say that Hillary showed weakness by staying with Bill that he wanted Chelsea to offer a rebuttal.
Too bad she didn't listen to the question.
Chelsea's father's extracurricular activities helped create a minor constitutional crisis.
Sure, but only because Republicans and the media are completely insane.
Blowjobs = ALERT EXCITEMENT REPEAT!!!!
Torture, violation of the Constitution = shrug
No one faults him for the bj- I mean he is a horndog but did he have to LIE about it. The Republicans did what they thought was right. It is better than what the Democrats have did with Bush. Why isn't his A$$ impeached?
There was a sexual harassment case going on. He could have settled that case, and wouldn't have had to testify. He did settle that case, but only after insisting the nation go through what we went through. Let's remember folks, other women also attempted to file sexual harassment suits against Bill Clinton, some went to an attorney, and weren't savvy enough to know that the attorney to whom they went, Hillary Rodham was at the time married to Bill.
Bill is not an innocent.
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She lies like both her parents - it's in her DNA.
Posted by Clinton: One Foot in the Grave | April 10, 2008 2:13 PM