Clinton Wedding: Secrecy or Revenge?

The Clintons chose not to communicate about the wedding of their daughter, Chelsea. It is Saturday. Here we are. The press is swarming in non-information that they would like to transform into scoops. But no! The most violently attacked first family in American history has chosen its weapon: silence. Are they busy setting a new trend for the White House?

In Rhinebeck (the rumored location of the ceremony), two hours north of New York, the citizens are proud of having been chosen for the big day by Chelsea and her fiancé Marc Mezvinsky. But Rhinebeck remains mute. Here they talk of Clinton vineyards, Clinton Corners … and one day, maybe, they will say The Clintons the way they say The Hamptons — with snobbery. We are not there yet.

Bill and Hillary have done everything to stop this circus. The local police have already questioned two Norwegian journalists who tried to break into the Astor Courts property — the splendid property of Clinton donors (the couple Kathleen Hammer and Arthur Seelbinder) and supposed location of the wedding. This property, which has been up for sale since last year, was taken off the market this month. It was not simply the $13 million price tag that was the main reason. This may well be where … But hush!

One can ask oneself about the silence surrounding the wedding of the year and simply rely [upon the explantion that] the lovebirds desire to protect themselves. Or, that the Clinton parents want to keep in control and beat the media at their own game, retaining what they have succeeded in maintaining in respect to their daughter: her private life.

But it is not wholly inappropriate to analyze this silence as revenge. And to remember that American political society has given few gifts to the 42nd [president] and his wife Hillary since their arrival at the White House in 1992. They were rednecks (country bumpkins from the South) and the political aristocracy of Washington humiliated them.

The media, following in the politicians’ footsteps, cultivated a continual animosity toward Hillary the intellectual when she aspired to be the kingpin of health care reform and acted like a second president on the topic. One can say that they took her from the Oval Office — both her and reform — at the same time. This was in 1994.

And then — if we consider that the fuss concerning them never stopped — it started again. During his second term, Bill Clinton offered them one of those morsels of bravura that transformed the country’s day-to-day affairs into such an unbelievable soap opera that an impeachment trial nearly turned it into a total nightmare. The Lewinsky Affair, Monicagate, will forever haunt 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Americans’ memory and the two Clinton women — who not only overcame, but transformed their lives and themselves. Hillary launched an attack for the presidency in 2008. Even though Obama won, he chose to make her his Secretary of State. Chelsea pursued her studies, stayed the course and ended up marrying a childhood friend. To say the life of the Clintons is tumultuous would be an understatement. All the talk about them is accompanied by ambivalence. Today, less so: The role that Bill and Hillary play in American life seems more accepted. Hillary was even elected as the most admired woman of 2009. It was touch-and-go.

So, the secrecy before the wedding is expected and very political.

And, if the silence has allowed them to hold at a distance the uninvited through a shortage of invitations (400 guests is a small number), it has also offered them revenge in the form of iced sorbet. Well played.

There is silence on the side of the Obamas who, invited, will not go to the wedding. It’s a good stand. It is a testimony to true discretion: The heroes of the celebration are the couple. What’s more, for some time the first family has been seen less often. It has been quite awhile now since we have seen Michelle and the girls in photos. We do not know where the first family is going on vacation. Decidedly, silence is back in fashion. In communication, scarcity is a highly precious commodity.