Chelsea in Oxford--Special Report

The Nation ^ | 12/04/2001 | Daniel Swift

[CommiesOut]

Special Report

Chelsea in Oxford

by Daniel Swift

In his Oxford days, Bill Clinton was famously antiwar. Since her arrival at the university to study international relations, his daughter, Chelsea, has been waging war from behind the newly reinforced bullet-proof glass windows of her Oxford dorm room. She and her Secret Service guards disrupted an antiwar rally in the town hall, heckling the speakers and waving American flags. And then there's the piece in Talk magazine.

In the most recent issue of the glossy New York mag--the cover is dominated by Gwyneth Paltrow's shiny décolletage--Chelsea complains that "every day I encounter some sort of anti-American feeling. Sometimes it's from other students, sometimes it's from a newspaper columnist, sometimes it's from 'peace' demonstrators only a few blocks from where I live." This anti-Americanism has led her to avoid English students and spend her time with other Americans in Oxford.

The inverted commas around "peace" suggest that Chelsea has little time for the antiwar movement. She goes on to explain exactly what she thinks of these demonstrators:

"Many question whether the evidence pointing to Osama bin Laden is accurate and conclusive. Others wonder whether America has any genuine concern for the plight of the Afghan people. I bristle at these suggestions. The idea that anyone believes America would enter into this conflict capriciously boggles my mind, and the notion that the United States is acting without regard to the Afghan people is offensive. Finally, the suggestion that America was too quick to respond, or that the United States should for some reason not employ its right to self-defense, is an assault in itself."

At the risk of bristling Ms. Clinton, there are many who doubt America's new war on terror. She suggests that questioning the bombing, or even debating the merits of US policy, is the same as an attack on the United States. But the debate is already open. More than a month ago, the Britain-based charities Oxfam and Christian Aid called for a pause in the bombing so that humanitarian supplies could get through. The UN has estimated that there are seven and a half million Afghan refugees dependent on aid to survive. The New York Times has reported at length on how the bombing has disrupted critical relief effort. Chelsea's tortured scheme of moral equivalency doesn't seem to recognize these factors.

The English school of IR theory is more skeptical however. It's typified by Hedley Bull's famous statement in The Anarchical Society, which has become a textbook for English IR: "I believe that inquiry has its own morality and is necessarily subversive of political institutions of all kinds, good as well as bad." This doubting voice underpins the classical model of IR taught at Oxford.

Chelsea is going to have a tough time at Oxford if she bristles at skepticism toward US policy. According to the syllabus, in her first year she is required to take a course on "the origins and course of the Cold War" and "the place of law, of rules generally, and of moral concepts, in international relations"; in her second year, she will choose an optional subject from a list that includes "The International Relations of the Middle East," "The United States in International Relations since 1945" and "The International Relations of Latin America." These courses won't make much sense without mention of Nicaragua or El Salvador, of America's special relationship with Israel, of America's disregard for the UN or even of America's support of the Taliban.

Ms. Clinton has been widely feted in Britain. Tatler magazine named her as one of England's ten most eligible women. But the anti-Americanism she has found in Oxford is not simply snobbery. There have been antiwar demonstrations throughout England in the last month, including one in Hyde Park on October 13 which drew more than 20,000 people. The bombing of Afghanistan has been regularly attacked in the English media. Oxford may be anti-American, but no more than the rest of world: like Paris, perhaps? Or Teheran? If, as has been widely suggested, this is the first step of a run for office, we should watch her words.

[putupon]

How come it took her alway the way to grad school overseas to rebel against her parents? most kids do at home when still in high school.

[J. Semper Paratus]

Come on... don't you know that Vince Foster is her daddy?

[Grampa Dave]

In her re written story of where she was when 9/11 happened, she did not agree with where Hilldebeast said she was.

Somewhere in her rambling comments, she commented that she wondered if the 9/11 disaster might have been brought about due to the massive tax cuts! That part agreed with Hildebeast. Since I never memorize anything she says, we need someone to repost the article/thread for her exact words!

[Prodigal Son]

I say give her a chance- albeit a very skeptical one. She is at that age in life when many people decide exactly what it is they want to be and be about. Maybe she will take a long, hard, 9/11 induced look at her life and the "values" her parents stand for and decide it doesn't add up. You never know, she might turn out ok. Hell, she may even vote for Dubya in 2004, although I wouldn't hold my breath for that.

[billhilly]

Sounds like Chelsea is a closet FReeper.

This reminds me of the old conflict of watching your mother-in-law drive over a cliff in your new car.

[Celtjew Libertarian]

Hmmm... she shocks her parents by attending college all the way across the country. (Granted, that may be so she can have female friends over without worrying about her daddy jumping them.) She never looked happier than the day after Clinton admitted his relationship with Lewinsky. Now this....

I wonder if those SF books I once read about her buying were by Jerry Pournelle or Robert Heinlein....

She may end up being a Republican yet. I hope she does. It would be the ultimate personal rejection of the Bill&Hill show.

[independentmind]

Ms. Clinton has been widely feted in Britain. Tatler magazine named her as one of England's ten most eligible women. But the anti-Americanism she has found in Oxford is not simply snobbery.

I know an American who was educated as boy in England but attended college in the U.S. After graduation, he spent a year in London with one of the big Wall Street investment houses. He would very much disagree that the anti-Americanism isn't a case of snobbery. A lot of upper class British people, are actually quite snobbish, especially if you are Catholic and have an Irish last name.

[isthisnickcool]

Chelsea studying at Oxford.

[Grampa Dave]

Yeh, I just heard that Hilldebeast agreed with GW re the tribunals.

So what is happening with the Clintoonian women, Hilldebeast and Chelsea!

[germanshepherd]

This is probably "all show" to help Mommy Dearest with her future presidential bid.

Hate to say it, but this makes the most sense. Wouldn't it be great if we could just accept her at her word as being sincere in this? How unfortunate that we can't. She's a Clinton.

[CommiesOut]

She also said something about Humpty Dumpty.
Sweet girl.

[Dr. Octagon]

So true!

[dingram]

None of this would be happening to Chelsea if it were not for Bush's tax cut.

[jimt]

Tatler magazine named her as one of England's ten most eligible women.

Somehow I have a hard time featuring Howdy-Doody as one of anyplace's most eligible women.

[Celtjew Libertarian]

I don't know.... She had a psychopathic, pathological liar and sex maniac for a father and a humorless control freak for a mother. If that isn't groundworks for rebellion and rejection of one's parents' values, I don't know what is.

[Grampa Dave]

Yep, her rambling personal story had Humpty Dumpty in it. After the Humpty Dumpty remark and the tax cut remark, I basically round filed it in my old mine!

[JohnGalt]

Funny that the folks over at The Nation are glossing over the established fact that Bill Clinton was keeping tabs on the anti-war movement at Oxford for the CIA.

[JohnGalt]

Funny that the folks over at The Nation are glossing over the established fact that Bill Clinton was keeping tabs on the anti-war movement at Oxford for the CIA.

[uvular]

I think Bill signed Chelsea up for one full extra year of security and some others like El Reno, got an extra 6 months.

[TopQuark]

Yeah, it's not just snobbery; it's also stupidity.

A disagreement with this or that American policy may come from being ill informed. Anti-Americanism is, however, from envy. It is for that reason that is even more widespread and more dangerous.