Chelsea Clinton says she simply wants her mother to take it easy as speculation swirls over whether Hillary Clinton will run for the White House in 2016.
“Right now, I want her to rest,” Chelsea Clinton said in an interview with Parade magazine.
“Ultimately I want her to make whatever she thinks is the right decision. I always want to help her in any way I can, because I unapologetically and unabashedly am deeply biased toward my mother.”
Hillary Clinton, 65, has said she has no plans for a second presidential bid, but she hasn’t ruled it out. She stepped down as Secretary of State in February.
Chelsea Clinton, 33, has been a loyal supporter and advocate for her mother, appearing at her side throughout her ultimately failed bid for the Democratic nomination in 2008.
Democrats argue among themselves whether Hillary Clinton has the desire and energy to go through the grueling campaign process she knows so well.
However, many see Hillary Clinton as a prohibitive favorite whose head start would be so big that other potential candidates might starve for funds and attention.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll in January found that 67% of Americans held a favorable view of Hillary Clinton, which is her highest rating since the poll began measuring her popularity in the 1990s.
The poll has been held through Hillary Clinton time as First Lady, her eight years in the Senate representing New York and her time as Secretary of State.
“It’s hard to overstate the breadth and depth of enthusiasm for a Hillary run,” said Doug Hattaway, a former campaign aide of Hillary Clinton and now a Washington-based consultant.
Hillary Clinton built a national base of supporters in 2008, when she lost a hard-fought nomination fight to Barack Obama, and she’s widely respected after her turn heading the State Department, Doug Hattaway said.
“A lot of donors, volunteers and potential campaign workers will wait to hear what she decides before committing to other candidates,” he said, although “anyone with their eye on 2016 is already working on it.”
Mo Elleithee, a top spokesman for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign, said it’s much too early to know.
“My advice to everyone is to chill out,” Mo Elleithee said.
“There’s no need for all this breathless anticipation at this point.”
In the Parade interview, Chelsea Clinton also spoke out about how her grandmother, Dorothy Rodham, encouraged her to get involved with her family’s work.
“She thought I wasn’t doing enough with the opportunity I’d been given to be Chelsea Clinton,” Chelsea Clinton said.
“I’d chosen to kind of live in the recesses, to work very hard and try to be a good person.
“I hadn’t planned on or expected to have a public dimension in my life. But I was starting to feel like I had a responsibility to at least try to make more of a difference.”
