Chelsea Clinton Better Than Bill

The circle is now complete...- D. Vader

Former President and would-be First Gent Bill Clinton seems to have been overtaken in the political skills department by daughter Chelsea Clinton, observes Politico:

In Philadelphia Monday night for a final rally before the must-win Pennsylvania primary, Chelsea Clinton told a packed crowd that she and her father are having an "implicit competition about who is my mother's better surrogate on any given day."

She may have been joking. She may also be winning.

Bill Clinton is a master of retail politicking, widely acknowledged to have few peers as a campaigner. But after the latest in a series of dust-ups involving the former president - the most recent occurring on the eve of Tuesday's high-stakes Democratic contest - there's a case to be made that his 28-year-old daughter is the more valuable advocate for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

This also just in: Scientists are confirming this hour that bears exhibit a clear preference for wooded areas when excreting bodily waste.

For the unconvinced, here's a quick study in contrast. First, Bill, then after the jump, some Chelsea.



Now, here's Chelsea on the grill in Madison, Wi, earlier in the campaign. Let's see how she does.




The Politico article does attempt to balance out the Chelsea love:

But so far, it is Chelsea who has handled delicate situations with aplomb, and it is Chelsea who has emerged unscratched from public events where her family's most sensitive issues - such as the Monica Lewinsky scandal - were suddenly and unexpectedly thrust upon her by questioners.

Only once has she drawn unfavorable public notice - and that for an absurdly disciplined approach that led her to refuse an interview request from a 9-year-old student journalist.

Sure, but they're not telling you that the kid is a stringer for The New Republic.

One of the great differences that I see in Chelsea's approach to campaigning for Hillary versus Bill's is that Chelsea keeps the focus on her Mom, whereas Bill has a tendency to make it all about himself. This means that even when Bill is on message, he's not really helping that much, as it's a reminder of Hillary's policy differences with the former president on issues like trade and LGBTQ issues.

To be fair, there is a world of difference between riffing with voters on campus and the proverbial squared circle of a press conference. Even so, despite her press blackout, Chelsea has enjoyed almost universally positive coverage. I get the feeling that, given the chance, our newshounds would have a hard time asking anything more challenging than something like this:

"Chelsea, two quick questions. First, it has been widely reported that you are awesome. Could you give us some detail as to how you became so awesome, sort of flesh that out for us? And secondly, would you rule out the possibility that you could be more awesome?"

Even if it didn't go that way, so much the better. Reporters attacking Chelsea only makes her look better. In fact, if I were to advise the Clinton campaign on this, I would recommend that they set up Chelsea's media "coming out" on Fox News, with Dick Morris as the guest. Go ahead, Dick. Swing away!

As for Bill Clinton, I say we agree not to ask where he is, and the campaign agrees not to tell us.