In excerpts from her upcoming memoir, Hillary Clinton reminds the public that she is “proud” of what she accomplished while serving as secretary of state, and that she also learned a great deal about the executive branch while serving under President Barack Obama.
The memoir, “Hard Choices,” chronicles Clinton’s time at the State Department and is set to be released on June 10 — as she considers a run for the presidency in 2016.
Clinton and her publisher, Simon & Schuster, have released two separate excerpts of the memoir so far. The first excerpt deals primarily with Clinton’s relationship with her mother and daughter. The other talks about Clinton’s intentions for the book and what she hopes to convey to the reader.
Clinton spends a great majority of the memoir waxing-poetic on her numerous accomplishment as secretary of state, and refers to the administration’s capture of Osama bin Laden as one of the highlights of her career.
Although the intelligence was shaky, a decision had to be made that day. “It was as crisp and courageous a display of leadership as I’ve ever seen,” Clinton writes of the Obama administration’s decision.
Clinton writes that she found an “unexpected partnership and friendship” with her presidential-opponent-turned-boss, Obama. Together, the two conquered immense challenges, and, you guessed it, made some hard choices.
In the memoir, Clinton admits to some mistakes, wishing that she could go back and reconsider some past decisions. This statement is likely a nod to the siege of the 2012 Libyan mission in Benghazi, which is still under scrutiny to this day.
Clinton also points to mistakes (or, “hard choices” as she calls them) in her own life, such as the difficult decision as whether or not to “stay married.”
At the end of the book, Clinton comes to the conclusion that America does, in fact, still have the capability to lead in the world. That sure is a good thing considering that she has run for president before, and is probably hoping to lead this nation one day.
But make no mistake, Clinton did not write the book to appeal to “Washington’s long-running soap opera” — no. She wrote this book for the hard working Americans, and people of the world who are just trying to make sense of it all.
Clinton states that she hopes to make clear how collapsing economies abroad interplay with the small mom-and-pop business in Georgia. Or how failing European governments impacts life in Chicago. Or how terrorism changes the economy back at home. She makes the connections so you don’t have to. Thanks, Hillary!
But, above all else, the Democratic candidate hopes to mend bipartisan divides, and help our nation come together as one. She writes, “so long as we stay true to our values and remember that, before we are Republicans or Democrats, liberals or conservatives, or any of the other labels that divide us as often as define us, we are Americans, all with a personal stake in our country.”
