On September 12, Hillary Clinton's latest book, What Happened, came out. It is not always the easiest thing to remember but I appreciate very much the book opening with this quote:
The book addresses many topics, including:
the importance of Intersectional Feminism, and the importance of the terms mansplaining, revenge porn, trolls (yes, you read that correctly), and emotional labour
those emails
her marriage and family
stories from the road before, during, and after the election
and her plans for what policies she would have implemented had she been elected
One of my favorite parts of the books was: “I didn’t go public with my feelings. I let them out in private. When I heard that Donald Trump settled a fraud suit against his Trump University for $25 million, I yelled at the television. When I read the news that he filled his team with Wall Street bankers after relentlessly accusing me of being their stooge, I nearly threw the remote control at the wall.”
I was very surprised to see her addressing her privilege in the narrative as well. She addressed that she did not have the compelling narrative of other presidential candidates or presidents. She talked about being a wealthy white woman in America and what her life was like.
Among the hundreds of things from the campaign that bothered me to my core one of the most frustrating moments was when this feedback was given, “If Hillary Clinton wasn’t running for President, the Clinton Foundation would be seen as one of the great humanitarian charities of our generation.” I do not think that the foundation's impact and ability to help people should be diminished because Hillary decided to run for office.
I identified with this example in her book about subtle thing that people I know and myself have done without realizing it:
I know that I deserve good things to happen to me and I'm going to do my level best to not be like this anymore.
Some of the best examples in the book about all the work Hillary did and what it means for future generations:
There was a part of the book that briefly talked about flaws and authenticity. I believe that she embraced her flaws throughout the campaign very well and that her account was raw, authentic, and exactly what everyone needed following the debacle of 2016.
