According to publisher Simon & Schuster, Hillary Clinton’s new book, Hard Choices, will be filled with “candid reflections about key moments during her time as secretary of State as well as her thoughts about how to navigate the challenges of the 21st century.” But the excerpt published this morning on Vogue’s website was Mother’s Day-themed, like everything else today. “No one had a bigger influence on my life or did more to shape the person I became,” Clinton writes of her mom, Dorothy Howell Rodham, who died a few years ago.
The former First Lady describes Rodham as a woman who “loved mystery novels, Mexican food, and Dancing With the Stars.” The excerpt focuses on the period in 2008 when Rodham lived with the Clintons in Washington D.C.:
Having her so close became a source of great comfort to me, especially in the difficult period after the end of the 2008 campaign. I’d come home from a long day at the Senate or the State Department, slide in next to her at the small table in our breakfast nook, and let everything just pour out.
In a particularly affecting moment, Clinton writes about the day Rodham died: “Mom lived a long and full life. This time I wept not for what she would miss but for how much I would miss her.” Further on, Clinton attributes her career to her mother’s commitment to social justice, remembering that Rodham taught her to “Never rest on your laurels. Never quit. Never stop working to make the world a better place. That’s our unfinished business.” It’s too bad she’s not around to weigh in on 2016.
