Chelsea had Hillary’s back

Despite an early offer from Chairman John Kerry to sit behind the senators so that her mom could see her smiling face during the long hours of testimony, Chelsea Clinton sat just behind her mother’s right shoulder throughout the course of the hearing with her perfect posture, her impossibly perfect hair, and a magenta wool dress that I desperately coveted from 20 feet away.

But the chairman’s offer wasn’t the last time her name came up in the hearing. Several of the assembled senators — perhaps at the behest of their majority-male staff — made mention of Kerry’s internship/seating offer throughout the hearing, which Chelsea acknowledged with a faint smile and a firm commitment to stay close to her mother. Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson, who had the first post-lunch question, mentioned how proud Hillary was of her daughter and that she would undoubtedly like to see some grandchildren soon — and Chelsea didn’t even claw his eyes out.

The only time I saw more than a hint of Chelsea’s profile, though, was during her mother’s battle of wits with the unarmed David Vitter, when I could have sworn her (perfectly made-up) lips sneered ever so slightly at him. Mostly I just stared at her hair and bemoaned the fact that I will never be able to get mine to look like that.

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