Chelsea Clinton Gets Asked Sensitive Question

On Monday, Chelsea Clinton declared to a South Bend crowd that it was her first time to visit Indiana and she was expecting to fall in love with the state.  After a question at Butler University on Tuesday I’m wondering how much she loves Indiana crowds.

It seems that a large part of Chelsea’s job in the Clinton campaign is to reach out to younger voters and carry her mom’s message to her generation.  This role necessarily involves going to college campuses across the country. 

On Tuesday Chelsea fielded questions from a Butler U. crowd and at the end of the session she got asked a question that she said she had never been asked.  The question was something like “Do you think the Monica Lewinsky scandal hurt your mom’s credibility?”  Chelsea was caught off-guard and she quickly responded that the issue was none of the questioner’s business.

More news and commentary after the leap…

Now, first of all I think this may have been a legitimate question.  Hillary and Bill publicly act like everything is fine-and-dandy but aides who worked with them in the White House have related stories of their rocky relationship.  For Hillary and Bill to publicly ignore what has become widely known and admitted to, and act like there has never been much conflict between them, sends the message that the kind of behavior Bill engaged in is okay and doesn’t have any real consequences.  I’m not advising them to get a divorce, but I am advising them to quit putting on a false show in public and to work privately to reconcile their hurts and make it clear that it is possible to stay married after such an affair, but it takes a tremendous amount of healing, changing, and dedication on both sides.

Secondly, though the question may have been valid, Chelsea should not be the one to answer it.  The issue involves her parents and she had absolutely nothing to do with the creation of the situation.  Frankly, although I disagree politically with her, I understand that she must have been greatly hurt by what took place and she should not be held accountable for the actions of her parents.

In other news, a Gallup poll is out showing that both sides in the Democratic primary are very adamant about their candidate and some supporters would be more likely to vote for McCain than the eventual nominee if their primary candidate does note take the nomination.  In light of the Politico’s scathing article arguing that Clinton’s campaign is dead and its continuation superfluous, and the Gallup poll’s revelation that a significant number of Clintonites will vote for McCain over Obama, the news is bad for the Democrats but good for the Republicans.

Often is Republicans and conservatives who get fractured in fights over policy and ideology and liberals and Democrats who unite and do what it takes to win.  Perhaps 2008 will be a year in which the tables are turned.