Chelsea Seems To Be Enjoying Herself, Her Role

In the beginning, that is to say early 1993, editorial cartoonists wielded acid pens and “Saturday Night Live” took no prisoners, sending Mike Meyers out in a frightful wig. Shy, studious, braces-wearing Chelsea Clinton was 13 years old, and satirists showed no mercy, making a cruel age even crueler by pointing out that she was no Breck-tressed, metal-free, Ralph Lauren-looking Gore girl.

What a difference two years can make.

Last week, the first (and only) child returned from a 12-day tour of Pakistan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, which proved not only to be an original spring break, but Chelsea’s tour de force, a conquering of Asia as well as the global press.

“A poised junior diplomat,” gushed the Associated Press from Nepal.

“She stands attentively and confidently at the first lady’s side,” rhapsodized the Washington Post from India.

Her face is thinner. The posture exudes self-possession. The hair is smashing. It’s the kind of hair her peers and her peers’ mothers spend hundreds of dollars trying to achieve. The braces are gone. For those keeping track of such things: The braces came off in May of last year. The exact date was not recorded for posterity, but her thoughtful parents marked the occasion with taffy and gum.

Chelsea’s clothes seem as if they were actually chosen by her, instead of a distant, aging relative.

She smiles! She speaks! She seems, like, happy!

The reason? Chelsea is not 13 any more. She is 15. If 13 can seem like a decade in an acne-ravaged Hades, then 15 can be several seasons of spring. Chelsea looks content and pretty and seems to be doing better than anyone could possibly expect from someone growing up in the White House with two parents who have proved to be daily chow for a vulture-like media.

Up until now, Chelsea’s wisely protective parents have kept her away from the wayward media. “Word went out pretty early around the White House: ‘We don’t want another Amy Carter,”’ one White House source said last year, referring to the ubiquitous red-haired youngster, who arrived in Washington at age 9 and was seen and quoted everywhere on everything from homework to national security.

Her social life seems to be going swimmingly. Last month, Chelsea went out with a group of 10 - five guys, five girls, how democratic - for a late snack at Planet Hollywood in Washington. The group left around midnight. The guys even sprang for the check. And the two accompanying Secret Service men were unobtrusive, sitting at another table. A 15-year-old girl could hardly ask for a better date.