The Clintons timed this perfectly, didn’t they? Elle Magazine released their cover with Chelsea Clinton on Friday, just ahead of Hillary Clinton’s Sunday announcement that yes, obviously, she will be running for president again. Chelsea Clinton hits all of the Democratic party sweet spots in this Elle interview too – she talks about her baby (daughter Charlotte), her work with No Ceilings (an advocacy group for women’s rights) and the importance of having a female president. You can read Elle’s excerpts here. Some highlights:

ELLE: Is it a big change from before she was born?
CHELSEA CLINTON: Marc and I are like, “What did we do before we were parents?” My whole life is reoriented around my daughter in the most blessed sense. I now understand—this is something else that Marc and I talk about all the time—all of the enthusiastic, bombastically spectacular, wonderful things people say about their children, because we also feel and think all those things about Charlotte—that she is just the most remarkable little bubbly, perfect, chunky monkey creature ever.

ELLE: I was pregnant with my eldest daughter when your mother ran in 2008. I remember feeling that extra intensity you’re talking about and being really frustrated when people said that it didn’t matter if we had a female president, that it wouldn’t make any real change, that it was just symbolic. What do you think?
CC: We’ve made real progress on legal protections for women, but in no way are women at parity to men in our country in the workplace. And if we look in the political sphere, it is challenging to me that women comprising 20 percent of Congress is treated as a real success. Since when did 20 percent become the definition of equality? And so when you ask about the importance of having a woman president, absolutely it’s important, for, yes, symbolic reasons—symbols are important; it is important who and what we choose to elevate, and to celebrate. And one of our core values in this country is that we are the land of equal opportunity, but when equal hasn’t yet included gender, there is a fundamental challenge there that, I believe, having our first woman president—whenever that is—will help resolve. And do I think it would make a substantive difference? Yes, we’ve seen again and again, when women have been in positions of leadership, they have had different degrees of success versus their male counterparts, historically being able to build more consensus so that decisions have longer-term effects, whether in economic investments or in building social capital. Who sits around the table matters. And who sits at the head of the table matters, too.

[From Elle]

I’ve always liked Chelsea and I believe she turned out to be a well-adjusted, intelligent and interesting person. It seems like her role in her mother’s campaign is going to change too – back in 2008, Chelsea wanted to still pretend that she was “private” while she quietly campaigned for her mother on college campuses around the country. Which meant that Chelsea didn’t want to do interviews, yet would speak publicly on behalf of her mother, and if she was every criticized (however mild), the Clinton campaign lashed out and said Chelsea is just a private citizen not a public figure. My hope is that Chelsea takes an active and public role in her mom’s campaign this time around. She’s a very powerful advocate for her mom, especially given that no one can control the Big Dog, you know? When the Big Dog goes off the leash, no one knows what he’ll say. It could be the height of brilliance or it could be… really bad.

Here’s Hillary Clinton’s presidential announcement commercial:

Photos courtesy of Paola Kudacki for ELLE.