Chelsea Clinton is a highly successful person, for reasons entirely related to the circumstances of her birth, not her qualifications or personal accomplishments.
The sweetheart deal she received at NBC came to epitomize the crony political capitalism her parents so effectively turned into a megafortune, as this August 29, 2014, NY Times report reflected:
Ms. Clinton, who is vice chairwoman of the philanthropic organization her father founded, made an annual salary of $600,000 at NBC, according to Politico. She remains on the board of IAC/InterActiveCorp, the digital media company overseen by Barry Diller, a longtime Clinton supporter. In 2011, that position paid an annual retainer of $50,000 and a $250,000 grant of restricted stock.
When Chelsea was the child in The White House, and even after that when she was a private person, she was entitled to privacy and freedom from political attack so long as her political role was limited to trying to make her mother seem human to a skeptical public.
Even though Chelsea reportedly was the “Invisible Hand” behind Hillary’s 2016 campaign, she was treated with kid gloves by the media and Democrats.
Now Chelsea has thrown away the political protection as she takes on an attack role in her mother’s campaign. NBC News reported, Chelsea Clinton Takes Aim at Sanders Over Health Policy:
Stumping for her mother for the first time in 2016 on Tuesday, Chelsea Clinton directly criticized Bernie Sanders on health care policy, echoing Hillary Clinton’s recent attacks on the Vermont senator.Asked about mounting enthusiasm for Sanders among young people, the daughter of the Democratic presidential frontrunner urged younger voters to focus on the “specifics” of Sanders’ policy proposals.”Sen. Sanders wants to dismantle Obamacare, dismantle the CHIP program, dismantle Medicare, and dismantle private insurance,” she said during a campaign stop in New Hampshire. “I worry if we give Republicans Democratic permission to do that, we’ll go back to an era — before we had the Affordable Care Act — that would strip millions and millions and millions of people off their health insurance.”
Chelsea’s attack dog debut is not being well received, and is viewed as a sign the Clintons are panicking.
The Hill reports, Chelsea Clinton goes on the attack; Democrats ask why:
Democrats have almost universally panned the attack, believing it to be ineffective and a misuse of her talents.They note that Chelsea Clinton has mostly been used to highlight Hillary Clinton’s softer side as a mother and grandmother and say she seemed uncomfortable shedding her first daughter persona for the role of attack dog.“The thing that tells you as much as anything about [the Clinton campaign’s] current state of mind is Chelsea going on the attack. It tells you everything you need to know,” said one Democratic strategist. “That this [challenge from Sanders] is real and they’ve got to be freaking out.”The attack caught many Democrats, including Sanders and his supporters, by surprise.Following Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, CNN played the clip of Chelsea Clinton’s criticism directly to Sanders. The Vermont senator held back a wry smile as he offered a measured rebuke of Chelsea, who is nearly 40 years his junior.“As much as I admire Chelsea, she didn’t read the plan,” he said.
HuffPo “News” characterized Chelsea’s attack as misleading:
Like so many statements the Clinton campaign has made about Sanders position on health care, Chelsea’s contained some true statements — and some wildly misleading implications.
Even Jim Geraghty at National Review calls Chelsea’s attack dishonest. Sure Bernie may “dismantle” Obamacare, but only by replacing it with the progressive dream of single-payer, not with a market-based alternative:
But as flawed and dangerous as single-payer is, Sanders’ plan only “dismantles” Obamacare, CHIP, Medicare and private insurance to replace it with taxpayer-funded care for everybody. Chelsea’s pointing to only one-half of Sanders’ agenda in order to make it look like he wants to unplug Grandma from the respirator and snatch away Tiny Tim’s cane.
This truly is a monumental moment in American politics. Chelsea Clinton has accomplished something no other Clinton ever did: Bringing Left and Right together.
If so, it will be Chelsea’s only real accomplishment.
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