While campaigning at North Carolina State, Chelsea Clinton was faced with the dreaded Monica Lewinsky question. A student proclaimed that the scandal was the public's business since the incident occurred when her father was President of the United States. Chelsea responded by saying,” It’s none of your business that is something that is personal to my family. I'm sure there are things that are personal to your family that you don't think are anyone else's business either.” The student later defended his comments saying "I felt that it is our business because he was president at the time, and his first duty is to be chief citizen."
The Clinton family is going to have to face this dreaded topic for the rest of their lives. It’s understandable that Chelsea is defensive and avoidant on the subject, because it is an incredibly embarrassing topic to discuss. However, it will come up, and when it does, it must be addressed in the most sensible way. Chelsea’s response was very personal and honest. She truly feels that the scandal was based on her father’s personal choice in his private life, and that it is irrelevant to the public. Many people agree with her, and ultimately remember Bill Clinton as a great President who did great things for our country. However, there are several other people who just remember him as the President who fooled around in the White House, and can’t seem to let that go, despite his many accomplishments while in office. What is your take on this? Do you side with Chelsea or the student?
2 comments:
I was also just reading an article about this, and I would have to agree with both the student and Chelsea. As President of the United States, although some things should be personal business, they are not by virtue of the position. The president is naturally held to higher standards, and his business is everyones business because we are trusting him to run our country. Do I think his cheating negates all the good he did for the country, absolutely not. I agree that his actions were a personal, private choice, but at the same time they also reflect character and judgement, and he as a responsibility to answer to the people on those matters.
Whether or not the Monica Lewinsky scandal was the President's personal business is something that can be debated back and forth forever. In this particular situation, I think the question was the student out of line for asking Chelsea a question about her father's infidelity. I believe the answer is yes. While Chelsea is campaigning for her mother and handling difficult political questions, I think this students question is insensitive to the situation. For any child to learn about a parent's infidelity is difficult. To deal with that knowledge being public and constantly in the media brings it to a whole new level of difficulty for the child. Chelsea is out there campaigning to support her mother. She does not need to be questioned about a hard time for her family. While some may deem those questions valuable, they should be directed towards Hillary or Bill Clinton, not their daughter.
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