Incoming Mayor Bill de Blasio's daughter's video has elements of a skillfully scripted Madison Avenue commercial
Chiara de Blasio in her YouTube video.
There was Chiara de Blasio, the 19-year-old daughter of New York's next mayor, gently baring her battles with depression, alcohol and drugs in a day-before-Christmas YouTube video.
The sincerity and eloquence she showed were guaranteed to touch the hearts of many New Yorkers.
And her message could well inspire countless young people in similar situations to see
k help, as she urged them to do at the end.
But Chiara's startling video, coming eight days before the official start of the Bill de Blasio era, also left you with an eerie sense of being manipulated emotionally.
Those feeling began with the melancholy piano-and-string music that accompanied her every word. It continued with graphics that marked off each section with dramatic headlines like: 'Chiara de Blasio tells her story.'
Then there were the statistics sprinkled throughout, such as: 'About 28% of Americans drink at levels that put them at risk for alcohol dependence.'
Finally, there was the meticulous editing of her interview to evoke a sense of intimate conversation.
It amounted to a skillfully scripted Madison Avenue commercial that must have been in the planning for weeks - not some young woman's spontaneous confession the day before Christmas.
It had all the earmarks of the damage-control tactics favored by Harold Ickes, the former Bill Clinton aide who is now a trusted adviser to de Blasio.
Rumors had swirled since the summer of possible drug and alcohol problems involving Chiara, but the city's news media had shown unusual restraint by declining to delve into such a personal issue, especially after her parents refused to respond to the rumors.
So imagine the surprise when the mayor-elect and his wife, Chirlane, in a statement that accompanied the release of Chiara's video, expressed pride in their daughter's decision to come forward during the holidays.
'As parents, our instinct has been to protect our daughter and privately help her through a deeply personal struggle,' they said.
It's 'the time of the year when these challenges are probably at their sharpest,' the mayor-elect added a short time later, in a brief appearance outside his home.
But Christmas Eve also happens to be the optimal moment for politicians to release potentially embarrassing information, because most people aren't paying attention.
Even in this carefully choreographed video, however, hints of deeper strains in the de Blasio family surface.
'My mom was trying really hard to help me,' Chiara says at one point, 'and my dad was doing the same, but obviously he was really busy.'
Bill, in other words, was spending so much time being a politician that Chiara's mother was left to shoulder the burden of helping her.
In this, the de Blasios differed little from most American families. The fathers always have less time to deal with their children's problems.
The average dad, though, doesn't draft his children into television commercials aimed at winning votes, which is what de Blasio did with Chiara and her younger brother, Dante.
We truly hope his daughter has overcome her substance abuse. But take it from a father whose own daughter confronted similar problems for years - it can be a long road back.
Luckily, New Yorkers will not judge the de Blasio era by the frailties or strengths of the new mayor's children, nor by the slick commercials his handlers craft.
Chiara de Blasio's bravery is to be admired.
As for the mayor-elect, New Yorkers will judge him by his actions, and that begins next week.
Posted by Unknown on Wednesday, December 25, 2013 - Rating: 4.5
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