T.A. Frank has an interesting piece at TNR entitled, “Jenna vs. Chelsea: Who’s the least virtuous first daughter?”
For a long time, it seemed as if Jenna Bush’s public image was pretty much summed up by her work on the club circuit. Back in 2005, the New York Post made mention of a party that included “Jenna on all fours doing ‘the butt dance’ … as guys were ogling her thong.” If the First Twin’s choice of recreational activities wasn’t entirely bad–for instance, the Post’s source gave Jenna credit for “doing [the butt dance] very well”–then neither was it entirely good. By contrast, Chelsea Clinton learned the hard way about what can come of impromptu displays of thong and, so far, has covered her rear. It’s no surprise that her Poise Count–the number of LexisNexis articles resulting from the word “poise” paired with her name–clocks in at 770, while Jenna trails at 144. Chelsea was the accomplished Stanford graduate living a quiet life in New York, while Jenna was the not-so-accomplished University of Texas graduate living a loud life in–well, wherever she happened to go drinking.
After that rather amusing beginning, however, we find that Jenna Bush has gone on to lead a quiet life of public service while Chelsea Clinton has gone on to exploit her family connections for wealth and celebrity.
Commenters on Frank’s piece, reasonably enough, question his focus on the relatives of politicians. Certainly, Jenna and Chelsea have every right to chose their own paths in life without it either inputing anything about their parents’ politics or their own fealty to their parents’ espoused principles; they’re adults, after all. Still, it’s an interesting turn of events, especially since Jenna was getting a whole lot more coverage during her drunken college days than now.
(Incidentally, for those who don’t recall the Jenna Bush Butt Dance saga, the link at left will provide a handy primer, including information I had myself forgotten about the pop culture phenomenon which was “Da Butt.” )
