Hillary Clinton’s media tour has begun, and on Sunday she sat down with CBS’ Jane Pauley to discuss her memoir, What Happened, and her own reactions to the 2016 presidential election. “I’m good,” she told Pauley. “But that doesn’t mean I am complacent or resolved about what happened. It still is very painful. It hurts a lot.”
Although she does take responsibility for her loss — “I couldn’t get the job done, and I’ll have to live with that for the rest of my life” — she also parsed a few theories as to why it happened. And one, she said, is because her opponent appealed overwhelmingly to a certain demographic.
“He was quite successful in referencing a nostalgia that would give hope, comfort, settle grievances, for millions of people who were upset about gains that were made by others,” she said.
Pauley: “What you’re saying is millions of white people.”
Clinton: “Millions of white people, yeah. Millions of white people.”
She also mentions other factors that dented her campaign: Russian interference; her own use of a personal email server while Secretary of State and the ensuing coverage; James Comey’s pre-election letter about the email investigation; and her failure to tap into the economic anxieties of Americans the way her primary opponent, Bernie Sanders, did.
“I think in this time we’re in, particularly in this campaign, you know, maybe I missed a few chances,” she concluded. And, despite some speculation that’s sprung up around her book tour, she has no plans to revive her candidacy. But she won’t be disappearing any time soon. “I am not done with politics because I literally believe that our country’s future is at stake,” she said.