Like many other liberals, I have a love-hate relationship with Hillary Clinton. I strongly supported her during the general election, but after her defeat, I felt angry with her for losing the election to such a poor candidate as Donald Trump P’00. In the days, weeks, and months following the election, media coverage of the aftermath was nonstop and increasingly accusative. Fingers were pointed all over the left — first at Former DNC Chairman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, next James Comey, then Russian sponsored internet memes and news articles. Blame flew everywhere on the left, yet Ms. Clinton was nowhere to be found. Other than a few interviews and speeches, she still remained out of the limelight until September 12, when she released her book, What Happened. When I heard about this, I was hopeful that she would release a powerful and unifying book, accepting her own drawbacks and encouraging a currently weak Democratic Party to rally the troops and revert themselves to the party that her own husband, former President Bill Clinton, won back in 1992.
Instead, Ms. Clinton adopted a defensive tone, casting blame on Russia, the media, and even Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Rather than suggesting a different approach to the next election, she attempted to make excuses for her own defeat. Despite marketing the book as an exercise in self-criticism, she fails to fully address her own deficiencies as a candidate.
What is most disturbing about Ms. Clinton’s book is the blame she casts on Bernie Sanders and his supporters for her loss. It is true that many Sanders supporters were infuriated with his controversial defeat, and if those few Bernie supporters, who opted to support third candidates like Ms. Stein, had voted for Ms. Clinton, then the election may have ended much differently. However, now is not the time for Ms. Clinton to pass blame and create division. In fact, Ms. Clinton is irresponsibly refusing to accept the new wave of liberal populism that fueled Bernie Sanders.
Just because Ms. Clinton has been mostly absent from the political arena since the election does not mean that she has any less responsibility to supporting the Democratic Party than she did before her defeat. In her book, she demonstrates a blatant ignorance of the new wave of liberalism ushered in by Mr. Sanders’ coalition. Clearly, she does not understand that, pointing fingers at her own side is not the way to make up for her loss.
At this point, it is evident that Ms. Clinton returning the public spotlight on behalf of the Democratic Party is a harmful mistake. The lack of self-awareness she demonstrates in What Happened shows that Ms. Clinton is not mature enough to thoroughly examine her own shortcomings. She is a painful reminder of defeat for Democrats, and has thus far been unwilling to let go of the election. While in her book, she claims to understand that she did not fully appreciate the disenchantment of middle class Americans, she has offered no plan to address such a problem.
At a time when President Trump is eroding the progress that Democrats have made in the past eight years, liberals need a unifying figure, and Ms. Clinton is not that. Until she can swallow her pride, she remains a burden on modern liberalism. Unfortunately, What Happened misses the mark, just like her campaign.
