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| Chelsea Clinton in spotlight she once shunned speaks of Hillary, the mother | |
| (about 4 hours later) | |
| The daughter who spent her formative years growing up in the White House took the stage in Philadelphia on Thursday night to try to convince the American public that they should send her mother back there, this time as US president. | |
| Chelsea Clinton, the only child of Bill and Hillary Clinton, introduced her mother at the Democratic convention, speaking before Hillary Clinton made history by becoming the first woman in history to accept the presidential nomination of a major political party. | |
| Speaking slowly and in slightly faltering voice that did not recall the conversational ease of her father or the fierce conviction of her “wonderful, thoughtful, hilarious mother”, Chelsea explained how her mother taught her that “public service is about service”. | |
| “As her daughter, I’ve had a front-row seat to how she serves,” she said. “I’ve seen her holding the hands of mothers struggling to feed their kids or get them the healthcare they need, my mother promising to do everything she could to help.” | |
| She recalled what she called the “low points” of her mother’s life, focusing on her failed fight for healthcare reform. “It was bruising and exhausting. She fought her heart out, and she lost … She took a little time to replenish her spirits. Family movie nights definitely helped – Dad, as you heard [on Tuesday], liked Police Academy; my mom and I loved Pride and Prejudice. | |
| “And then she got right back to work, because she thought she could still make a difference for kids.” | |
| Hillary Clinton never forgot who she was fighting for, Chelsea said, listing as examples foster children, 9/11 first responders and “women around the world”. “Fights like these – they’re what keep my mother going. They grab her heart and her conscience and they never, ever let go.” | |
| In November, Chelsea said, she would be voting “for the progressive who will protect our planet from climate change and our communities from gun violence, who will reform our criminal justice system, and who believes that women’s rights are human rights, and LGBT rights are human rights, here and around the world”. | |
| And she said she hoped that one day her children would be as proud of her as she was of her other, closing the speech – after a video about Hillary Clinton’s life, narrated by Morgan Freeman – by introducing “my mother, my hero, and our next president: Hillary Clinton”. | |
| “This election is so important to me because I’m now a mom,” Chelsea told NBC’s Matt Lauer on Thursday. “As proud as I am of my mom, this election to me is fundamentally about my children, about Charlotte and Aidan. I couldn’t imagine a better president for them – I couldn’t imagine a better grandmother for them either.” | “This election is so important to me because I’m now a mom,” Chelsea told NBC’s Matt Lauer on Thursday. “As proud as I am of my mom, this election to me is fundamentally about my children, about Charlotte and Aidan. I couldn’t imagine a better president for them – I couldn’t imagine a better grandmother for them either.” |
| In June, Chelsea gave birth to a son, Aidan, the second child for her and husband Marc Mezvinsky. Hillary often shares anecdotes about her grandchildren at campaign stops and has described being a grandmother as “truly like falling in love all over again”. | In June, Chelsea gave birth to a son, Aidan, the second child for her and husband Marc Mezvinsky. Hillary often shares anecdotes about her grandchildren at campaign stops and has described being a grandmother as “truly like falling in love all over again”. |
| Chelsea told NBC: “I just hope that people understand even a little more when I’m done [with her speech] than when I started about why I love her so much and admire her so much,” she said. | |
| During Hillary Clinton’s first presidential bid in 2008, the former first daughter went to great lengths to avoid the press, and on one memorable occasion told a fourth-grade “kid reporter” from Scholastic News that she “doesn’t talk to the press”. Eight years later, she has re-emerged more comfortable in her role in the Clinton triumvirate. | During Hillary Clinton’s first presidential bid in 2008, the former first daughter went to great lengths to avoid the press, and on one memorable occasion told a fourth-grade “kid reporter” from Scholastic News that she “doesn’t talk to the press”. Eight years later, she has re-emerged more comfortable in her role in the Clinton triumvirate. |
| On the campaign trail, Chelsea seems at ease in front of large crowds, appearing as a lead surrogate for her mother. She has also taken on a more significant leadership role at the family’s Clinton Foundation. | |
| Hillary Clinton’s biggest challenge in the coming months will be to convince the American people to trust her. Her daughter’s speech on Thursday night was an opportunity to pull back the curtain on a woman the campaign described earlier this week as “the most famous, least-known person in the country”. | |
| The introduction will inevitably draw comparisons with the speech made at the Republican convention last week by Ivanka Trump, who introduced her father, Donald Trump, in Cleveland, making the case that as president he would be a “fighter” who will “fight for you”. | The introduction will inevitably draw comparisons with the speech made at the Republican convention last week by Ivanka Trump, who introduced her father, Donald Trump, in Cleveland, making the case that as president he would be a “fighter” who will “fight for you”. |
| In Cleveland, Ivanka directly engaged critics who have challenged her father’s hiring practices and treatment of women, calling him “color-blind and gender-neutral”. She also said the Republican nominee would fight for equal pay for women and affordable childcare, making a clear attempt to win over female voters who might be more inclined to feel Hillary Clinton would stand up for their interests. | |
| Earlier this week, Chelsea expressed doubt that Donald Trump would be a good candidate for women when asked during a panel discussion about Ivanka’s portrayal of her father as a “Gloria Steinem of the Republican party”. | Earlier this week, Chelsea expressed doubt that Donald Trump would be a good candidate for women when asked during a panel discussion about Ivanka’s portrayal of her father as a “Gloria Steinem of the Republican party”. |
| “How would your father do that, given it’s not something he’s spoken out?” Chelsea said she would ask Ivanka, a longtime friend. “There are no policies on any of those fronts that you just mentioned on his website – not last week, not this week. So I think the ‘how’ question is super-important – in politics as it is in life.” | |
| Chelsea reaffirmed on Thursday that she and Ivanka have remained friends despite the bitter campaign between their parents. She told NBC: “I think it was clear last week, when Ivanka introduced her dad, that she’s so proud of him. I hope it will be at least as clear why I’m so proud of my mom when I introduce her here in Philadelphia. | Chelsea reaffirmed on Thursday that she and Ivanka have remained friends despite the bitter campaign between their parents. She told NBC: “I think it was clear last week, when Ivanka introduced her dad, that she’s so proud of him. I hope it will be at least as clear why I’m so proud of my mom when I introduce her here in Philadelphia. |
| “And yet clearly, Ivanka and I have very different views about who we think should be our president, who we think best represents our country.” | “And yet clearly, Ivanka and I have very different views about who we think should be our president, who we think best represents our country.” |
| Asked if she would consider holding a “children’s summit” with Ivanka to try to raise the tone of the election campaign, Chelsea said it had not occurred her but it was “certainly something I would consider”. | Asked if she would consider holding a “children’s summit” with Ivanka to try to raise the tone of the election campaign, Chelsea said it had not occurred her but it was “certainly something I would consider”. |
| She added: “I think it’s clear that Mr Trump is running his campaign and saying what he thinks is important in this election. I think what were seeing here in Philadelphia is a very strong contrast to that. My mother’s not engaging in divisive, bigoted rhetoric.” | She added: “I think it’s clear that Mr Trump is running his campaign and saying what he thinks is important in this election. I think what were seeing here in Philadelphia is a very strong contrast to that. My mother’s not engaging in divisive, bigoted rhetoric.” |
| Whether Chelsea or Ivanka becomes the next first daughter, both are expected to be the most politically engaged women in that role since Franklin Roosevelt’s daughter Anna in the 1940s. | Whether Chelsea or Ivanka becomes the next first daughter, both are expected to be the most politically engaged women in that role since Franklin Roosevelt’s daughter Anna in the 1940s. |
| “Chelsea and Ivanka are major figures in the 2016 campaign,” wrote Joshua Kendall, author of First Dads: Parenting and Politics from George Washington to Barack Obama, in the Washington Post. “Like Anna Roosevelt, both daughters are likely to be enlisted as part-time first ladies: Chelsea because the nation’s first gentleman would want to pursue other interests and Ivanka because her stepmother seems to like her privacy … After January, it’s hard to imagine that either daughter would turn down whatever assignment dropped on her lap.” |