Hillary Clinton has had quite a political career. She was First Lady of Arkansas. She was First Lady of the United States. She was a United States Senator. She was Secretary of State. She was the first woman every nominated by a major party for President of the United States. She won the popular vote for President by 2.9 million votes. Other than actually serving as President of the United States, she has done it all. I don't think she will ever be President, but I give her a higher than zero chance, even still. She's an accomplished woman with a lot to say, and I totally see why some people still find her interesting to read.
Now, it is apparent at this time that her new book, out today, is very critical of Bernie Sanders and some of his supporters. Good. I've made no secret of how I feel about Sanders, a 25 year veteran of Congress, lacking many major achievements, and masquerading about as some sort of "outsider" after 25 years of sitting in the back of the Congress and collecting a check. They hypocrisy of he and his wife, hammering Hillary as corrupt while they have plenty of their own issues, is enough for me to want to scream. I would not vote for this man in 2020 for the Democratic nomination, and while I suspect I would vote for him against Trump, I would do so with extreme regret. I do not share his socialist values, opposition to putting Civil Rights front and center, or absolute contempt for the Democratic Party. In short, she was nicer than I would have been.
I probably won't read the book though, or attend the tour, or do anything like that. It's nothing personal against Hillary, I just find these kind of books to be basically useless. I never read "Game Change" or any of the books written about President Obama's wins, in part because I find the perspective to be boring, stupid, and wrong. I don't care what was going on in DC, on the Hill, or in the campaign's headquarters either. None of those places are where elections are won, they can only be lost there (as I would argue Hillary's election was). Even the perspective of the candidate is flawed to me, as they are uniquely unclear about what they saw while out campaigning. When someone who was out in a swing state, or in Iowa or New Hampshire, or basically out where the election was contested writes a book, let me know. I will buy that book, because that book will be the best one written yet.
With all of that out of the way, I must say that the push to "shut Hillary up" from Chuck Schumer, the Bernie Bros, and media members is disgusting. Before you push back at all, let's evaluate the treatment of Hillary right now against the treatment of another person robbed of the Presidency- Al Gore. Gore spoke out against the Iraq War, endorsed Howard Dean, and then released "An Inconvenient Truth" on his way to a Nobel Prize after his 500k vote popular vote victory in 2000, and was rightly cheered all the way. Hillary releases a book, and we have clowns like Chris Cillizza bringing up her emails again, Chuck Schumer telling her to look in the mirror, and the bros on the internet saying she needs to go away. Anyone who dares say that most of Hillary's problems are NOT sexism should never be taken seriously again.
I will say that I don't want Hillary to run in 2020 right now (though I'd consider voting for her again), but I'm tired of the "go away Hillary" crowd. If a woman who served in all the roles she did wants to speak, then speak. If someone of her accomplishment wants to voice their view, voice it. If she has an opinion, she should make it known. Hillary Clinton has earned that. If you're unwilling to defend her doing so, because you think it's bad for the Democratic brand, perhaps you should stop being a Democrat. You clearly aren't willing to defend the party brand, so don't force yourself to.
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