Hillary Clinton becomes a grandmother. Now will she announce for 2016?
Chelsea Clinton gave birth to a daughter, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky, Friday night. Hillary Clinton has said she wouldn’t announce her presidential plans until after that happy event.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP
It’s not true that the latest member of the Clinton political dynasty is wearing a baby beanie that declares “Hillary 2016” and a onesie that reads “Grandma rocks Iowa!” At least we haven’t seen the photos yet.
Still, that little Democrat (one can only assume family party loyalty) likely is the first new-born to be the top news item at Politico.com. Headline “It’s a girl: Chelsea Clinton gives birth.”
We’ll get to the most important historical point first, as pointed out by Time: “If Hillary Clinton runs in 2016, she will be the first serious presidential contender who is also a grandmother” – a title the former first lady, US Senator, and Secretary of State has called “the most exciting yet.”
Did we mention the baby’s name? The announcement came on Twitter and Facebook, where former first daughter Chelsea Clinton wrote that she and husband Marc Mezvinsky are “full of love, awe and gratitude as we celebrate the birth of our daughter, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky.”
Little Charlotte may never have an interest in political office, but it won’t be because her grandparents didn’t.
Marc Mezvinsky’s mother Marjorie Margolies served a term in Congress from Pennsylvania. Ms. Margolies’ ex-husband Edward Mezvinsky – Charlotte’s other grandfather – is a former congressman from Iowa. (Edward Mezvinsky also pleaded guilty to 31 of 69 felony charges of bank fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud, for which he served five year in federal prison, but we won’t dwell on that today.)
In other words, all four of Charlotte’s grandparents have been elected to high political office. Might there be such a future for Charlotte’s mother?
“Now I live in a city, in a state, in a country where I support my representatives at every level,” Chelsea has said (again, from Politico). “…If at any point in time that stopped being true, where I had a question about their ethics or their competencies, and I thought I could make a disproportionately positive contribution in the political arena in the same way that I feel very grateful I can do now through the [Clinton] Foundation, I’d have to ask and answer that.”
Sufficiently vague, but not exactly Shermanesque.
Chelsea Clinton grew up in the public eye as a teenager in the White House, later graduating from Stanford and Columbia universities. She worked in finance in New York and in public health, earning a doctorate from Oxford University.
She serves as vice chair of her family's foundation, which was renamed the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and helps direct the organization's humanitarian and philanthropic efforts around the globe. She recently departed NBC News, where she served as a special correspondent.
The new parents, who married in 2010, were friends as teenagers in Washington and both attended Stanford. Marc Mezvinsky is an investment banker.
Are there siblings in Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky’s future?
“I just hope that I will be as good a mom to my child and hopefully children as my mom was to me,” Chelsea Clinton said in announcing her pregnancy earlier this year. That "hopefully children" part suggests something.
During a joint appearance in Washington the other day, Bill Clinton got some grandfatherly advice from another ex-president.
“Get ready to be like the lowest person in the pecking order in your family,” George W. Bush told Mr. Clinton.
But, Mr. Bush added, “You’re just not going to believe the joy and the fun…. It’s going to be an awesome period for you.”
This report includes material from the Associated Press.