Chelsea Clinton: Candidate in 2012?

The Clintons — Bill, Hillary and Chelsea — fascinate America. Bill’s two presidencies, the Lewinsky scandal, Hillary’s failed 2008 candidacy and her triumphant return as Secretary of State under President Barack Obama, Chelsea’s wedding… All of these make their lives an ongoing romantic saga. And now Politico is trying to persuade us that Chelsea will continue the legend by jumping into the political waters. Several indicators show her determination, but how far will she go?

Chelsea Clinton, 31, came out of the over-protected family cocoon created by her parents on the occasion of a family-political event that her father described during a 2008 interview with People magazine. He said he knew that very day that she would enter politics, whereas before he thought she was allergic to everything [he and Hillary] did. It was after her mother’s failure, coming in third in the January 2008 Iowa Democratic Caucuses, that she concluded that her mother had not convinced young people to vote for her. Chelsea wrote to the president of her New York University to tell him that she was taking an indefinite leave to campaign alongside her mother. She enjoyed it and — as others, including her father, said — she is good at it. The Washington Post sees in her the energy of her father and the character of her mother, with a cooler edge.

She is cultivating a new identity as the activist willing to roll up her sleeves, a role she initiated in 2010 when she participated in phone campaigns for gay rights and gay marriage on behalf of the Human Rights Campaign.

She speaks in public and goes on stage. During the seventh Clinton Global Initiative in 2011, a truly American version of the Davos — very focused on female leaders — organized by her father each year when the UN General Assembly is in New York, she created a sensation by interviewing her mother, Hillary, on technological and political matters.

She joined the Board of Directors of the media tycoon Barry Diller’s InterActiveCorp, a position that allows her exceptional visibility of the information and production industry. Barry Diller is not softhearted; his choice is certainly a foot in the door.

Of course, we’re thinking elections, and 2012 is a good springboard. Governor Cuomo of New York may have an idea or two, and the Democratic Party as well. So why not dream of Hillary as mother of a future U.S. president?