Well, if you are wondering about the political implications of Chelsea Clinton being pregnant, that was covered by Haley Sweetland Edwards in the March/April/May issue of the Washington Monthly.
Here’s a snippet:
For Hillary, becoming a grandmother offers another particular advantage: it will give her the space to create a new public image. One that is softer. Cuddlier. More relatable. More real.
And that’s exactly what Hillary needs. For years, she’s been hamstrung by schizophrenic reviews from those she needs to win over. On one hand, people seem to agree that she is by nearly all counts the logical, most electable candidate on the blue team. In nearly all polls over the last four years, Democratic voters have found her competent, strong, intelligent, and imminently electable. But on the other hand, when it comes down to measuring that slippery je ne sais quoin of a candidate’s likability, there’s something about the lady that makes many in the Democratic base just sort of squinch up their face. (You know the look: “It’s not that I don’t like her; it’s just that …”) To many liberals, the allegation is often that she’s too shrewdly ambitious, too obviously the product of the steely, well-oiled Clintonland political machine. (In the lead-up to the 2008 election, liberal editor Robert Kuttner worried that “everything she does seems calculating, poll-tested, and money-driven.”) To many moderates, she’s just plain dull.
Becoming a grandmother could help remedy both those problems.
It definitely will remake her image for about the umpteenth time. It will also have some effect on how people perceive Bill. A doting grandfather image has little in common with the skirt-chaser of old that the late-night comics never tired of exploiting.
In any case, congratulations to the whole family.
