Top Clinton hand shields Chelsea

(Via Politico.com.)

He stands behind her, guarded and on the lookout. His head is turning left, then right, then left again, the way one watches a tennis match.

Philippe Reines could be mistaken for a Secret Service agent for Chelsea Clinton, the former first daughter who is anxious to regain that title. Now, as a crowd surrounds the youngest Clinton at a Marshall University campaign stop, Reines is on the lookout for hangers-on, swooning frat boys and, mostly, looming trouble in the form of microphones, cameras and notepads.

When sharp-elbowed television reporters manage to slip through the crowd and face Clinton, he reaches out his arm to shield the 28-year-old surrogate, points to the side of the room like a stone-faced traffic cop and tells the reporters, “I’ll talk to you over there.” Far from Chelsea.

Since Clinton doesn’t speak to reporters, Reines is her voice. When inquiring minds approach Clinton to say hello, she has been known to say, “Have you met Philippe?”

“If I wasn’t paid to talk to reporters, I wouldn’t, either,” said Reines, who has become the surrogate’s surrogate in the face of growing criticism that the campaign is protecting her like a child. “Chelsea smartly knows that if she gives an inch of her privacy, she loses a foot.”

Lately, college students in Chelsea’s audiences have been testing her limits with questions about her father, former President Bill Clinton, and his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. At first, Chelsea bristled at the comments. Now, she is prepared with a brief response.

Reines has been there for every awkward moment, helping keep the bubble surrounding Chelsea from popping. As Hillary Rodham Clinton’s longtime press-secretary-turned-senior-adviser, he is more than used to the tabloid headlines, the mobs of photographers who constantly chase the senator and the game of defense he must play to challenge the scrutiny.

“I think it’s like being a hockey goalie,” Reines said. “You’re deflecting the puck with your stick, your face mask, your knees — whatever works.