Chelsea shows a side of Hillary the public seldom sees
Among the many firsts of the 2016 Democratic convention, it was the first time a daughter spoke in support of a nominee whose victory would make her the first daughter for the second time.
Chelsea Clinton’s purpose was to make that possibility more likely, and to soften the image of a mother who many voters say they see as brittle, to paint a warmer portrait of a woman many voters say they do not like.
She did it with stories, and if they were not searingly personal, they were more intimate than Chelsea usually gets in public.
She described Hillary Clinton the mother, who attended every possible soccer and softball game, piano and dance recital, who spent hours with her daughter looking for shapes in the clouds, talking about dinosaurs, the book “A Wrinkle in Time” and anything else her only daughter had on her mind. “My earliest memory is my mom picking me up after I’d fallen down, giving me a big hug and reading me ‘Goodnight Moon’,” Chelsea said. “From that moment to this one, every single memory I have of my mom, regardless of what was happening in her life, she was always there for me.”
And then she talked about Hillary Clinton the grandmother to 2-year-old Charlotte and 5-week-old Aidan.
Charlotte, Chelsea said, “loves Elmo, she loves blueberries and above all she loves face-timing with grandma.” And Grandma Hillary, it seems, “can be about to walk on stage for a debate or a speech” but will make time for a reading of “Chugga-Chugga Choo-Choo” via phone screen.
Finally, she spoke of Hillary Clinton the daughter of a mother — Dorothy Rodham — who herself had a near Dickensian childhood and in whose memory Hillary has said she has made children’s issues a centerpiece of her political career.
“I hope that my children will someday be as proud of me as I am of my mom,” Chelsea said. “I am so grateful to be her daughter. I am so grateful that she is Charlotte and Aidan’s grandmother. She makes me so proud every single day. And Mom, grandma would be so, so proud of you tonight.”
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