What Happened, Hillary Rodham Clinton

RATING

1 star

N/A = good but not on the scale

1 star = perspective supplementing

2 stars = perspective influencing

3 stars = perspective altering

LONG SUMMARY AND SHORT SUMMARY (272 words or less)

I started out reading this book with the expectation to summarize it like the others. And though the book was interesting, to me, from a historical perspective, I felt exhausted to try to write about it. Probably because of the recency of the election, even putting my politics aside.

So here are my big takeaways.

One, history will look at this election as a very bizarre one.  The monumental upset and the historical candidacies, not just gender but age and tradition, would be enough to make it something history will dissect for a generation. Add the very basic intrigue of the loser having to attend, on stage, the election of the winner. What a bizarre time.

Two, regardless of your politics, it really is amazing that Hilary Clinton never was elected to the office. If you were with her, you look to the many things that coalesced to provide the upset, and it seems unreal. And even if you were not with her you come to the same conclusion with your political views in stride, that it was a big surprise to see Trump win the election.

Three, Clinton won 3M more votes than Trump. That’s a big number. The question that remains: is Clinton’s loss a repudiation of the Democratic Party platform? Or does the focus need to be on the 80,000 that swayed the election? In other words, does the Democratic Party pivot towards economic populism only and move away from equal rights issues, or can they be competitive doing both moving forward?