For the past two decades, the nation has to be entertained with the notion that a Clinton may try to claw its way back into the Oval Office as if it were some sort of entitlement. Political dynasties are certainly not new to Americans, but the idea of having the newest possible aspirant to the presidency being Chelsea Clinton is more than the American voter could or should tolerate.
According to several recent media reports, a younger politically greener version of Hillary might seriously want to continue the presidential political dynasty of the Clintons.
It certainly would not be the first time that a family tried to create a presidential dynasty. It first reared its entitled head with the Adams’ father and son duo who locked down two presidencies. John Adams the father was the nation’s second president and his son, John Quincy Adams was America’s sixth commander-in-chief.
Every century has had its share of presidential dynasties. During the 19th century America was graced by The Harrisons which gave the nation two American presidents: William Henry Harrison was the 9th and Benjamin Harrison the 23rd head of the United States government.
In the 20th century, America’s voters elected two Roosevelts to the nation’s highest office. Theodore “Rough Rider” Roosevelt was elected as 25th president and Franklin D. Roosevelt took office as the 32nd head of state.
The Bushes split the 20th and 21st century by becoming only the second father and son dynamic duo to be elected president of the United States. George H. W. Bush accomplished that feat in 1989 when he became the 41st president and his son George W. Bush became the 43rd president in 2001.
So, presidential dynasties have become fairly accepted in America, but this time around, Chelsea Clinton would be running for president with a lot of political baggage attached to her presidential bid. Least of her immediate problems would be her father and mother’s very lengthy list of scandals going back thirty to forty years.
She could plead innocent on account of youth and inexperience to her parent’s political misdeeds, but Chelsea was large and in charge when it comes to the Clinton Foundation that took in hundreds of millions of dollars and only gave a scant amount, amounting to ten percent or less, back to charities and causes. Yet it is the litany of scandals at the Clinton Foundation that have intertwined itself around Bill, Hillary and Chelsea that guarantees her name and her future will be tied to her parents’ penchant for ripping off and deceiving the public.
Examine her well-earned portfolio of deception and see if she measures up to her namesake. The foundation she headed engaged in highly questionable issues that left investigators wondering were there quid-pro-quos involving U.S. policy? She had to approve the countless million dollar payday speeches given by former president Bill Clinton which somehow intersected with Hillary Clinton’s day job at the State Department.
Yet there is more. Chelsea oversight produced a track record that demonstrated the foundation made errors in its tax returns that had to be updated but never explained, on several occasions. In addition, there was the highly questionable record of incidences where cash was improperly steered to friends who owned for-profit companies, according to the Wall Street Journal. There is a lot, lot more to her negative stewardship at the foundation that bears her name.
So, even without her parents’ scandal-ridden past to hinder her possible ascension to the 2020 Democrat nomination, the younger Clinton has enough problems that could detonate her own presidential aspirations. According to the Detroit News, she did not officially rule out a presidential run. She slyly remarked, “I clearly don’t agree with our president, but I’m definitely not the right person to run to defeat him in 2020,” she continued. “So right now, the answer is no. But I think we all need to be asking ourselves that question periodically.”
photo credit: Modified from: Travelin’ Librarian Chelsea Clinton (22) via photopin (license)
