Hillary Clinton Speaks Out In Memoir: ‘What Happened’ Explains What Went Wrong In Campaign

Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is laying out some mistakes she made in her campaign for president in her own words. For nine months, pundits have given their thoughts on what happened, and finally, the public will get to hear Clinton’s first person account of where she thinks she went wrong. Additionally, Clinton will also explain what it was like to be in her shoes, on that stage, as the first woman to come close to grabbing the brass ring.

And in her memoir, What Happened, which is set to release on September 12, Clinton doesn’t waste time pointing fingers, though obviously mistakes were made by others in her campaign. Huma Abedin, her second in command, is still dealing with her own fallout. The drama surrounding emails on various computers and who could access them came to a head when it was made public that Abedin’s husband, Anthony Weiner, was using an alleged government laptop for sexting. Weiner is waiting to be sentenced for sexting with a minor this month, and Abedin has filed for divorce. Even before Clinton lost the election, people wondered aloud whether Abedin would help or hurt the Clinton campaign.

William Cohan of Vanity Fair wrote about Weiner and Abedin in reference to the Clinton campaign.

“Weiner’s own political career may be over, but Weiner is likely to pose more trouble for his wife, Huma Abedin, a longtime senior advisor to Hillary Clinton and the vice-chair of her presidential campaign. The timing is particularly thorny. As I noted in my recent profile, it is increasingly unclear whether Abedin is Clinton’s secret weapon or her next big problem.”

And while Hillary Clinton admits that What Happened isn’t a comprehensive account of the Clinton campaign, it’s an account from her perspective, and we haven’t heard that yet. The excerpts that have been released from the Clinton memoir include statements from Hillary Clinton about why she wrote the book.

“I don’t have all the answers and this isn’t a comprehensive account of the 2016 race. That isn’t for me to write. I have too little distance and too great a stake in it. Instead, this is my story. I want to pull back the curtain on an experience that was exhilarating, joyful, humbling, infuriating and just plain baffling.”

Hillary Clinton also tells the story from her perspective about what it felt like to not only run against Donald Trump but to be in such close proximity to someone who was fending off his own scandals. Clinton talks about the debate that took place right after the Access Hollywood clip with Billy Bush aired. Hilly Clinton said she was uncomfortable when Donald Trump stood directly behind her on the podium.

“This is not OK, I thought. It was the second presidential debate, and Donald Trump was looming behind me. Two days before, the world heard him brag about groping women. Now we were on a small stage and no matter where I walked, he followed me closely, staring at me, making faces. It was incredibly uncomfortable. He was literally breathing down my neck. My skin crawled.”

Clinton explained that there was no playbook for what anyone should and would do in such a moment. She said she kept her cool as she had learned to do after a lifetime of dealing with “difficult men.”

However, Hillary Clinton doesn’t want readers to think she just picked herself up, dusted herself off, and wrote a memoir. Clinton says that she drank her share of wine after the election.

“It wasn’t all yoga and breathing: I also drank my share of Chardonnay.”

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Hillary Clinton also admits that those close to her suggested that she try a sedative to move past the disappointing election results.

“Friends advised me on the power of Xanax and raved about their amazing therapists. But that wasn’t for me. Never has been.”

Hillary Clinton also makes the point in praising her family for being there for her through good times and bad and stresses that her role as a mother and grandmother got her through some of the tougher times.

Will you read the Hillary Clinton memoir What Happened?

[Featured Image by Drew Angerer/Getty Images]