Listen Here
By: Jacob Sarver
Twitter: @Senatorsarver
Email: sarverj@findlay.edu
Hillary Clinton just recently released a new memoir that tells the story of ‘What Happened’ during her 2016 presidential campaign. In the new book, she uncovers issues with everyone from Bernie to current President, Donald Trump.
After a tough loss back in Nov. 2016, Clinton seemed to fall off the face of the planet. She had been spotted camping out in the woods a couple of times, but other than that was very distant from public life and social media alike. Clinton had been positing daily on social media platforms such as email, twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. All that changed, however, on Nov. 8 when she sent her last post for a while.
It turns out that during her time off, she was writing a tell-all titled “What Happened?” The autobiographical book is about the outcome of the election in 2016. It gives readers a behind-the-scenes look into the two years surrounding the craziest presidential election in history. The book release hasn’t gone unnoticed, and for sure hasn’t gone without controversy.
Nick Balaj, a senior at the University, doesn’t seem to agree with the name of the title of Clintons’ new book.
“From a marketing sense, it’s a really good title but I’ve heard that the book doesn’t answer the title, [and] that it is yet again playing the blame game,” Balaj said. “So based off of that, this is a poor title since it’s enticing readers with a question they’ve been asking, just not answering it.”
Balaj also states he doesn’t believe that Clinton has truly gotten over the election and that she is still holding on to what could have happened.
“With her releasing a book about the election, [it] seems like she is still upset about the outcome,” Balaj stated. “However, generally I feel as though Trump has moved on. He definitely calls back to it with some frequency, but I think it’s more about rallying up people when he is speaking than him bringing the issue up solely because he’s still worked up about it.”
Now, although some may not agree with her, there are quite the many eager to get their hands on the book. Sydney Wertz, a pre-law student at UF, is eager to read the book based on the fact that she has some of the same questions Clinton is supposedly answering.
“I think it was necessary for her to get some of this baggage off her chest,” Wertz said. “It was a way for her to come to terms and cope with the loss. This is also, hopefully, a way for her voters to heal as well. It’s interesting to see personal views and feel close to someone that was so very close to the presidency. I respect and admire her for being a woman in politics.”
The book addresses lots of issues including that she was not real enough and that she was too polished and fake. “I like that this book is raw and not trying to tiptoe around the subject,” said Wertz. “If a book like this came out before the election, it would have been another ploy against her. She would not have been able to include such hard truths even if this made her seem more real.”
UF Alumni, Sarah Stubbs, was very eager for the release of “What Happened?”
“I was intrigued to hear her side and I appreciated how honest she was,” Stubbs explained. “She’s pretty much done with politics, and anything is really fair game in politics anymore with Trump’s tactics, so I knew that she wasn’t going to hold anything back.”
Stubbs also noticed a revival of all the emotions she felt 11 months ago “Although it made me re-experience a lot of that sadness, anger, and confusion,” Stubbs said, “I’m glad I read it because it was and is the perfect push to keep paying attention to this administration and hold them accountable.”
Overall, the book seems to provide a clearer look at what the 2016 election had to offer. It shows a side to Clinton that hasn’t been seen yet. Although critics say she could be using this book as a way of pointing blame, after a year and a half of silence about the election Clinton can now be heard.
