One day, you're struggling through puberty. The next day, a bodyguard is ushering you through grocery aisles so you don't get snatched in the cereal section (if you even get to go shopping), your bad hair day makes a tabloid centerfold, and a good number of people would burn your parent(s) in effigy.
Welcome to the world of the political daughter. But, aside from the occasional snide nameless editor judging your looks, most people leave the daughter alone...unless she's getting married, like Chelsea Clinton, the most searched political daughter in the past three years on Yahoo! Search. Granted, the mega-watt fame of her parents is more responsible for Clinton's publicity: The bride-to-be, understandably, wants her nuptials top-secret.
However, an awful lot of ladies braving the public sphere that political sons have long trespassed. There have been high-profile political daughters for a long time (e.g., Maria Shriver), but these women are taking what they've learned on the sidelines for their own agenda (for better or for worse, like they say in those vows).
In just the last few weeks, three outspoken Republican daughters of late showed they're their own women:
- Bristol Palin blindsided mama and papa with an US Weekly engagement announcement, and may or may not be shopping for a reality show, depending on if you believe an exclusive denial or a People blog. Unlike Clinton, her wedding's quite public...but in Alaska, of course (possibly without Mama Grizzly). On a Web search note, she nips at Chelsea's heels with the second-most searches.
- The chip off the maverick block, Meghan McCain will have a memoir on the 2008 presidential campaign out on August 31. The tome's called "Dirty Sexy Politics" ... a title lacking only "murder" and "kittens" for maximum appeal. (Symbolism aside, Paul the Octopus might have been buzzier than an elephant for the cover shot.) As for searches, she has one-third of Bristol's lookups... like father, like daughter.
- Barbara Bush advocated her global health care nonprofit to Fox News Sunday and asked why the poor should have worse coverage than the rich. She also gave a thumbs up to the health care bill (also known in searches as "obama health care bill" and "obamacare"). Barbara's last in this particular list of political daughters (and she lags behind her twin too in online attention: Jenna's marriage and her beach photo got her triple the searches of her sis.)
It is interesting, though, how many of these political American daughters are still staying out of very high-profile political games: Barbara Bush clearly said she was not going to follow granddad and dad's paths. Compare that to the political dynasties in places like India and the Philippines.
Still, their comfort with going public may help avoid scenarios like the one Caroline Kennedy found herself in. Described by the New York Times as "deeply private," Kennedy biffed her sudden senatorial bid, by seeming at once uninvolved, entitled and wavering.
Not so with this new generation - and many people are willingly listening to their words. Plus, saying your own piece is better than seeing your image show up in patronizing (but, um, kind of fascinating) "hottest first daughters" sort of articles. (Who remembers Ronald Reagan's daughter on the cover of Playboy?) As McCain said with astute cheerfulness in a May 2009 blog post, "Obviously, the most sensational part of anything is what sells, But I am very happy that these things always bring new viewers and readers into what I'm working on." Cue the baby donkeys and elephants.
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