Chelsea Clinton Projects Could Hint at Political Future: Is a Clinton Dynasty in the Works?
Chelsea Clinton has spent her entire life in the public eye, but recent projects undertaken by the former first daughter hint at future political aspirations.
Clinton has been working with her father's organization, The Clinton Foundation, started by Bill Clinton after his retirement from politics.
"She represented former President Bill Clinton's Clinton Global Initiative at a Monday ceremony bringing Procter & Gamble's Children's Safe Drinking Water initiative to the Southeast Asian nation. The program provides water purification packets to areas with unsafe water supplies. The project's organizers say access to safe drinking water is poor in rural Myanmar due to pollution," writes Politico.
Of course, a project in Myanmar is only possible because of renewed diplomatic ties with the United States, pioneered by none other than Hillary Clinton when she served as Secretary of State in the first Obama administration.
Political ambition seems to be a family trait. Clinton grew up in the White House, as her father Bill was elected to his first term as president when she was only 12 years old.
Her mother Hillary became a senator from New York in 2001, just as the Clinton presidency came to an end.
In 2008, Hillary Clinton ran for president against then-Senator Barack Obama, losing narrowly after a hard-fought and bitter campaign. But the Clintpn penchant for politics won out again. The Clintons mended fences with Obama, and Hillary Clinton was appointed Secretary of State, a position that rehabilitated her image with Americans of all political persuasions.
Hillary Clinton's nationwide popularity is near an all-time high, and she is considered the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016. If she chooses to run, she will have the endorsement of two former presidents, including the incumbent during the election. As much as 85 percent of the Democratic base supports her candidacy, with Vice President Joe Biden trailing far behind.
In fact, her popularity is so high, Republicans are scrambling to find viable candidates to face her a full three years before the campaign kicks off.
Whatever the outcome of the next presidential election, Chelsea Clinton's political prospects are bright, assuming she chooses to follow her parents' paths.
Americans love political dynasties; see the Roosevelts, the Rockefellers, the Kennedys, the Bushes and the Pauls, in addition to the Clintons.
If Hillary Clinton serves an eight-year term, Chelsea will be 44 years old by the time her mother leaves office older, just two years younger than her father when he first took office, and three years younger than President Obama when he took office.
Certainly there's no guarantee Chelsea Clinton will want to become a politician; indeed, she may hope to avoid it altogether.
But Republicans taking the long view are scared of a lengthening Clinton dynasty. Recently, Barbara Bush, matriarch of the extended Bush clan, dismissed talk of a presidential run for her son Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, saying the country had been ruled by too few familes for too long.
It's hard to imagine the politically savvy Barbara Bush making such a remark flippantly. Perhaps she realizes the Bush name is tarnished, and she hoped to ding the name of the man who relegated her husband to a single term so many years ago.