Silence Everyone, Chelsea Clinton Is Speaking

Chelsea Clinton will soon become a mom, making her famous parents the most powerful grandparents in America. Well, almost. With Hillary still uncertain about running again for the presidency in 2016 – as all, and I mean all the Democrats, would want her to in order to try and make the dream come true of another eight years in the White House – Chelsea’s pregnancy has become the official “excuse” for her to hide behind in order to be able to say, “I only want to be a grandmother.” We can call these just “big” words, seeing that the speaking activity of Bill and Hillary is extremely intense and certainly also well-paid. The appearance fees reserved for the former president are famous following his departure from the residence on Pennsylvania Avenue, and the same applies to his wife, who is no less capable of entertaining the public, especially on topics regarding women and foreign policy.

Following in her parent’s footsteps, recently even Chelsea, who is involved on a full-time basis in the Clinton Foundation founded by her father, has started to make herself known, not for her speeches as much as for the $75,000 she received for one of her “performances.” The figure seems excessive, as much as it is equal to the fee that Dick Cheney collected and higher than those given to Mitt Romney or Sarah Palin. Some in the media, especially those who always have something to laugh about regarding the activities of the Clintons, have been rolling their eyes and turning up their noses.

Now, given that Chelsea has just officially made clear that all – and “all” is underlined – the money she receives goes toward supporting the activities of the Clinton Foundation, we must ask ourselves why we are surprised that a young, experienced woman who has long been involved with topics such as women and cooperation should receive even just a cent less than a former vice president like Cheney, who is known particularly for having invented the threat of nonexistent “weapons of mass destruction,” or for having spent the last six years attacking, at times in a less than orthodox manner, President Obama. Furthermore, that a woman like Sarah Palin, who declared herself an expert in foreign policy because she can “see Russia” from her house in Alaska, should receive even a single dollar for speaking in public remains an utter mystery.

However, it is clear that nobody would pay such fees if the speakers, including Palin, did not have an audience interested in listening to them, and the appearance fee is proportionate to their capability to get involved with topics of diverse interest.

Moreover, it is understandable that in a country that has an idiosyncrasy about “the children,” “friends” and “wives of,” Chelsea’s activities are always subject to a certain scrutiny.

But the fact remains that this is about a 34-year-old woman who is clearly capable of appearing in public and saying interesting things, and that also thanks to her money, the foundation her father leads is able to achieve important goals in international cooperation.