I recently finished Hillary Clinton's book, What Happened. While I don't want to get into a huge political discussion, I did want to review this book briefly for everyone. Mainly because I felt like the press coverage the book was getting was such an inaccurate depiction of what actually took place in the book.
So let's be very clear. I supported Hillary Clinton. I was a fan of hers, I am a fan of hers, so let's not get confused that somehow I'm pretending to be nonpartisan or anything like that. I am a fan. I also didn't listen to a large majority of the reviews of the book. I didn't read them. I really wanted to read the book first. I actually got it on Audible so I was able to hear her voice for 16 hours, which was a lot, but I finished the book in under two weeks, if that's any indication of how quickly I listened to it.
Just to clear up a few thoughts that I had, because I did initially get some negative feedback from people when I said I was reading the book. Let's cover some basics, she does not whine in the book about why she lost the election. She does discuss in the book as to why she lost the election. She doesn't throw around blame without supporting it with facts, or at least allegations supported by facts. She gives reasons for certain results, but she doesn't look for excuses. She recognizes that she's not a good campaigner, and not a good candidate. And she recognized that there were things that she did as an individual, and as a campaign, that resulted in her losing the election. (Yes, she mentions Wisconsin and Michigan.)
She also, recognizes that there were some things beyond her control, and some things that were unique, or hopefully unique to this specific election. Part of it is just the hatred of the Clinton name, part of it is the Russian scandal, whatever that turns out to be, part of it was related to James Comey. She does not ignore the fact that their strategy failed in some ways. That she didn't successfully convey her policies well. She recognizes the fact that she'd expected it to be a more policy focused general election, which it obviously wasn't.
But she doesn't back down. She backs up her arguments, or her defense of some of these decisions, with some pretty persuasive evidence as to who did actually vote for her and who didn't.
What i felt was most important when listening to this was to remember that this book is what she thought happened with only a few months to look back. Its not a historical accounting. Time will tell. Either way this book answer some questions, left some unanswered and made me laugh, and yes, cry.
What are you reading these days?
XOXO