Okay, this story made me giggle. A lot. The very idea of Chelsea Clinton relegating herself to the boonies of Arkansas, a state her parents disdained and couldn’t leave quickly enough, is hilarious to me. Not so to Politico, however.
The idea of the Clinton dynasty just will not die, and poor Chelsea is going to be sacrificed on its altar. Remember when the media and left was pushing the idea of a Chelsea run for the U. S. House of Representatives in New York? That fizzled out quickly.
Not only is the progressive base less than excited about a Chelsea Clinton in elected office, but Chelsea has all of her mother’s less desirable traits and none of her father’s political instincts or charisma. As such, she’s not a likely candidate for anything much less the U. S. Senate.
Politico’s click-bait tweet intentionally left out that it’s Chelsea, not Hillary, being recommended for a Senate run for Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) who is expected to move over to the CIA.
The idea, I guess, is to get people to click over (which I did, so in that sense it worked) and then to settle in to consider the prospect of a Senator Chelsea Clinton from Arkansas.
If Arkansas Democrats want to field a serious Democrat, there’s only one name to consider. I’m talking, of course, about Clinton.Of course, Hillary Clinton would have to overcome a lot of impediments to become only the third person in history to have represented more than one state in the Senate. She lost Arkansas to Trump by 27 points, and didn’t even bother to campaign there. She’s not a native Arkansan and was always a polarizing figure during her stint as the state’s first lady. She didn’t come back there to live after serving in the White House, nor does she visit often.A sudden return to the state would likely dredge up bad memories of the Whitewater investigation, in which she was never charged with a crime but many of her Arkansas associates were convicted. As Bloomberg columnist Leonid Bershidsky summed up after visiting the state during the 2016 campaign, “Arkansas is pleased to forget Hillary Clinton.”
Apparently, however, Politico fantasizes that Arkansas is ready for Chelsea.
[Chelsea] has the Clinton name but little of the Clinton baggage. She wouldn’t hurt for name recognition or campaign cash. She’s vice chair of the controversy magnet known as the Clinton Foundation, but emails released during the presidential campaign by WikiLeaks and the State Department show Chelsea getting caught doing good, seeking to root out corruption by foundation officials and warning of problems with Haiti earthquake relief.She is an Arkansas native, even though she hasn’t lived there since she was 12. Sure, she lives in Manhattan now and lacks a Southern accent. But her mom bought her first house in New York two months before she launched her Senate bid, proving ZIP code ain’t nothing but a number. Carpetbagger charges are inevitable. But in the end, what matters is your knowledge and respect of the state and its voters. Chelsea shows no hint of cultural condescension toward her birthplace. For example, as an NBC reporter, she spotlighted efforts to preserve the folk music traditions of the city of Mountain View in the Ozarks.We all know she’s gearing up to run for something someday. She’s sharpened her political presence on Twitter. She’s released two books this year, the popular children’s history book “She Persisted” and the less noticed but weightier “Governing Global Health: Who Runs the World and Why?” in which she and a global public health professor explore how effective international organizations have been at combating infectious diseases.Although Chelsea typically bats away questions about launching a campaign, in a March interview with Variety she caveated, “If someone steps down or something changes, I’ll then ask and answer those questions at that time.” Clearly, she’s waiting for someone to step down.
And like her mother, she’s clearly waiting to be anointed should Cotton move over to the CIA. Arkansans must be laughing their butts off right about now.
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