She has been the First Lady of the United States, the Senator from New York and now the US Secretary of State. But Hillary Clinton is about to take on her most daunting and formidable position to date: Mother of the Bride.
This week Clinton told reporters that preparing for daughter Chelsea's forthcoming nuptials to investment banker, Marc Mezvinsky, is truly "the most important thing in my life right now".
Juggling the dual roles of top diplomat for President Obama with chief wedding planner was "stressful" Clinton said, but added that she'd still found time for dress fittings and menu tastings in between multiple forays abroad to forge world peace and harmony.
"Luckily we have e-mail now. I can communicate and people can send me pictures of flower arrangements or other kinds of decisions," she said this week in Poland during a whistle-stop tour of Europe.
Although the wedding details have been kept top secret, there are strong hints that the former first daughter will tie the knot on July 31 at a swanky mansion in the picturesque town of Rhinebeck in upstate New York.
Bill says he's close to losing the 15lbs that Chelsea has requested and that he's going to try his hardest not to cry at the wedding -- or to trip while walking his daughter down the aisle.
"I am going to try not to cry because this isn't about me, it's about her," the former president said. "And if I am crying then it becomes partly about me and I don't even want to be mentioned in the story except that I didn't stumble walking down the aisle."
"Chelsea was barely 12 years old when she first came to national attention; many Americans feel like they watched her grow up," Amy Argetsinger, gossip columnist for The Washington Post told the Weekend Review.
Although currently a student at Columbia University, Chelsea worked for years as an investment analyst at a New York hedge-fund group where she was reported to make several hundred thousand dollars a year. Co-workers remember her as a polite and serious worker who arrived early and worked late into the evening, asking for no special favours.
Her mother's daughter! :)
Chelsea's reluctance to speak on the record has been inspired by her famously protective parents who took pains over the years to shield their daughter from the unforgiving glare and rough and tumble of presidential politics.
But even the couple's desire to keep the media at bay could not protect their daughter from the disastrous fallout when Bill's personal life imploded on the world stage during the Monica Lewinsky scandal in 1998.
A furious Hillary Clinton forced her husband to break the news directly to his daughter that he had lied under oath about his sexual relations with "that woman". But despite her father's indiscretions, Chelsea remained steadfastly loyal.
She acted as a bridge between her broken parents, holding their hands as they walked towards their helicopter in the now infamous footage following Bill's public admission that he had lied about his relationship with Lewinsky. And when the humiliated First Lady refused to travel abroad with the president during the height of the scandal, it was Chelsea who took her place.
"If Bill had one friend left in the world, it would be Chelsea," said a former CBS correspondent who covered the White House during the Clinton presidency.
Chelsea's ability to hold her head high in the midst of an embarrassing family scandal is something that she shares with her fiance, Marc Mezvinsky, whose father Ed was recently released from five years in federal prison on bank fraud charges.
Marc also grew up in a political hothouse: both of his parents are former Democratic members of Congress, and are close friends of Bill and Hillary.
The combined political lineage of the bride and groom is sure to complicate the wedding guest list, which has been limited to 400.
Chelsea has reportedly instituted a "no strangers policy" and "must personally know every invitee".
So far Al and Tipper Gore -- currently in the midst of a surprise separation -- have announced that they will be a no show. Barack Obama and the first lady are allegedly invited but there is no hint yet whether they'll attend. Fashion designer Oscar De La Renta is expected to be there, prompting speculation that Chelsea will wear one of his gowns down the aisle.
And despite rumours that Clinton musical favourites U2 might be the wedding band, sources say the entertainment is likely to come from this side of the pond.
"If I were to bet on a famous Friend of Bill performing at the wedding, I'd put my money on Barbra Streisand," said Argetsinger.
Of course, wedding bell rumours have rung before for Chelsea: the Clinton's were "driven to distraction" by fevered speculation that she was about to be wed on Martha's Vineyard last August.
But this time the signs seem to be real.
Bill's diet to make him "look good" to walk Chelsea down the aisle seems to be working, said the former president, who reportedly has just two more pounds to lose.
And as for the mother of the bride, CNN television host Candy Crawly recently asked Hillary which is harder: negotiating Middle East peace or planning her daughter's wedding.
The Secretary of State played the perfect diplomat in reply. "Well, I'd probably call it a draw," she said with a smile.
It's nice to read about how Hillary (and Bill) are handling the wedding of their only child. I'm sure they will both be in top form for the big day - not to mention Chelsea, who does seem so much like her mother.
I hope that obot Barbra S. doesn't sing. She may be a friend of Bill, but she certainly embraced Hillary's opponent in 2008. I know he's a little "out there" for a formal occasion such as a wedding, but I would live it if Elton John was the singer. He was a wonderful friend to Hillary during the primary.
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It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union.... Men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less. ~Susan B. Anthony
