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OKNancy

(41,832 posts)
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 03:23 PM Sep 2017

A lovely excerpt from Hillary's book: I excerpted a part about her marriage

Hillary Clinton On Losing the 2016 Presidential Election & Her Marriage to Bill


https://www.vogue.com/article/hillary-clinton-memoir-election-marriage?mbid=social_twitter


We’ve been married since 1975. We’ve had many, many more happy days than sad or angry ones. I know some people wonder why we’re still together. I heard it again in the 2016 campaign: that “we must have an arrangement” (we do; it’s called a marriage); that I helped him become president and then stayed so he could help me become president (no); that we lead completely separate lives, and it’s just a marriage on paper now (he is reading this over my shoulder in our kitchen with our dogs underfoot, and in a minute he will reorganize our bookshelves for the millionth time, which means I will not be able to find any of my books, and once I learn the new system, he’ll just redo it again, but I don’t mind because he really loves to organize those bookshelves).

I don’t believe our marriage is anyone’s business. Public people should be allowed to have private lives, too. But I know that a lot of people are genuinely interested. Maybe you’re flat-out perplexed. Maybe you want to know how this works because you are married and would like it to last 40 years or longer, and you’re looking for perspective. I certainly can’t fault you on that.

I don’t want to delve into all the details, because I really do want to hold on to what’s left of my privacy as much as I can. But I will say this: Bill has been an extraordinary father to our beloved daughter and an exuberant, hands-on grandfather to our two grandchildren. I look at Chelsea and Charlotte and Aidan and I think, We did this. That’s a big deal.

He has been my partner in life and my greatest champion. He never once asked me to put my career on hold for his. He never once suggested that maybe I shouldn’t compete for anything—in work or politics—because it would interfere with his life or ambitions. There were stretches of time in which my husband’s job was unquestionably more important than mine, and he still didn’t play that card. I have never felt like anything but an equal. Bill is completely unbothered by having an ambitious, opinionated, occasionally pushy wife. In fact, he loves me for it.

Long before I thought of running for public office, he was saying, “You should do it. You’d be great at it. I’d love to vote for you.” He helped me believe in this bigger version of myself. Bill was a devoted son-in-law and always made my parents feel welcome in our home. Toward the end of my mother’s life, when I wanted her to move into our house in Washington, he said yes without hesitation. Though I expected nothing less, this meant the world to me. I know so many women who are married to men who—though they have their good qualities—can be sullen, moody, irritated at small requests, and generally disappointed with everyone and everything. Bill Clinton is the opposite. He has a temper, but he’s never mean. And he’s funny, friendly, unflappable in the face of mishaps and inconveniences, and easily delighted by the world—remember those balloons at the convention? He is fabulous company.

We’ve certainly had dark days in our marriage. You know all about them—and please consider for a moment what it would be like for the whole world to know about the worst moments in your relationship. There were times that I was deeply unsure about whether our marriage could or should survive. But on those days, I asked myself the questions that mattered most to me: Do I still love him? And can I still be in this marriage without becoming unrecognizable to myself— twisted by anger, resentment, or remoteness? The answers were always yes. So I kept going.

On our first date, we went to the Yale University Art Gallery to see a Mark Rothko exhibit. The building was closed, but Bill talked our way in. When I think about that afternoon—seeing the art, hearing the stillness all around us, giddy about this person whom I had just met but somehow knew would change my life—it still feels magical, and I feel happy and lucky all over again.

I still think he’s one of the most handsome men I’ve ever known. I’m proud of him: proud of his vast intellect, his big heart, the contributions he has made to the world. I love him with my whole heart. That’s more than enough to build a life on.


Much more at link.... go read it.

74 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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A lovely excerpt from Hillary's book: I excerpted a part about her marriage (Original Post) OKNancy Sep 2017 OP
That is what marriage is all about..... CatMor Sep 2017 #1
Yes to your comment! Heartstrings Sep 2017 #2
That is a beautiful passage, Nancy. sheshe2 Sep 2017 #3
+++ Agree iluvtennis Sep 2017 #44
Just beautiful and heartbreaking for what this country has lost. MoonRiver Sep 2017 #4
No kidding! calimary Sep 2017 #32
+ a million or so! eom BlueMTexpat Sep 2017 #42
Thank you for sharing this. lapucelle Sep 2017 #5
Bing- 3catwoman3 Sep 2017 #46
!!! Alice11111 Sep 2017 #68
Well, ya see Scarsdale Sep 2017 #71
Bill Clinton, George Bush the elder, and George Bush younger, Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama, and even haveahart Sep 2017 #6
I'm in tears. I've been married since 1975. Nothing is livetohike Sep 2017 #7
Congrats, livetohike. kag Sep 2017 #60
This is beautiful. can't wait to read the book. Thanks for posting! n/t seaglass Sep 2017 #8
Bill is the lucky one. LakeArenal Sep 2017 #9
It's 41 years for us. So much of what she described calimary Sep 2017 #33
Wow just wow Lotusflower70 Sep 2017 #10
Really shows her human side. The more excerpts that are released (or the more people actually.... George II Sep 2017 #11
In her OWN words. Nobody else's. HER life. And she's shared it with us. nolabear Sep 2017 #12
An adult talking eloquently about deep, long-lasting love between adults in a real way. ehrnst Sep 2017 #13
That was great. Doreen Sep 2017 #14
Don't most religions teach about the power to forgive? volstork Sep 2017 #16
Good point. Doreen Sep 2017 #19
Many American Christians here, Volstork, and that's very insulting. Hortensis Sep 2017 #39
I agree with you 100%. volstork Sep 2017 #48
Oh, THOSE "Christians." They're easy to pick out also. :) Hortensis Sep 2017 #49
I'm glad. volstork Sep 2017 #56
It is our business oberliner Sep 2017 #22
Not the part between them. nolabear Sep 2017 #28
Agreed oberliner Sep 2017 #29
Which I don't. nolabear Sep 2017 #30
I agree with most of what you said. Ilsa Sep 2017 #61
Staying together ruined the haters narrative. That is what they are still so angry about. Boomerproud Sep 2017 #24
This Is Why We Should Be Able to Upvote Posts Leith Sep 2017 #27
Beautiful. I will have to get the book now! cpamomfromtexas Sep 2017 #15
This makes me even more eager to read the book. murielm99 Sep 2017 #17
What an inspiration! NurseJackie Sep 2017 #18
I did laugh at the run-on sentence about Bill reorganizing the bookshelves blaze Sep 2017 #20
Very moving and eloquent, and I believe every word she is saying. spooky3 Sep 2017 #21
That was lovely. Thank you. lucca18 Sep 2017 #23
After his presidency when she was a Senator, I saw him make a small talk to a class demigoddess Sep 2017 #25
Beautiful. k&r DesertRat Sep 2017 #26
She had me at "We've...." One of the loveliest excerpts of a book I've read. Thanks. nt Honeycombe8 Sep 2017 #31
Man, I need this book! Thanks for posting. Best thing I read today. Madam45for2923 Sep 2017 #34
Just beautiful. MLAA Sep 2017 #35
That is...just beautiful NastyRiffraff Sep 2017 #36
She is clearly thinks deeply MontanaMama Sep 2017 #37
That brought a few tears... Raster Sep 2017 #38
Mark Rothko ! I knew it! I just knew it !!! pangaia Sep 2017 #40
I always admired how she withstood adversity & hatred. Basic LA Sep 2017 #41
kick kentuck Sep 2017 #43
That is beautiful mcar Sep 2017 #45
I am not counting her out. dixiegrrrrl Sep 2017 #47
How nice to read this .... Shoonra Sep 2017 #50
One of the staff nurses at the peds office... 3catwoman3 Sep 2017 #51
Chelsea is so lucky to have such amazingly gifted, accomplished and loving parents onetexan Sep 2017 #52
I can believe all hats true I've always loved Bill Clinton blueinredohio Sep 2017 #53
Ditto at 42.5 with Mr. Barnes joanbarnes Sep 2017 #54
K&R. Very touching. Thanks for posting it. nt tblue37 Sep 2017 #55
ImWithHer&Him. oasis Sep 2017 #57
They would have made a great president and first "gentleman?" BigmanPigman Sep 2017 #58
Thank you for posting this Gothmog Sep 2017 #59
Guess I'm going to have to read her book PatSeg Sep 2017 #62
k and r with deepest thanks!! niyad Sep 2017 #63
Love this! Her book is generating such huge interest. She is still a force R B Garr Sep 2017 #64
I love this ismnotwasm Sep 2017 #65
great passage NewJeffCT Sep 2017 #66
While I do like Hillary - a lot, Bill is a god. SpankMe Sep 2017 #67
That's a nice excerpt. aikoaiko Sep 2017 #69
- Bigredhunk Sep 2017 #70
I read this aloud to my husband during a family visit to Trump supporters, Native Sep 2017 #72
I loved this - thank you for sharing. Justice Sep 2017 #73
the power of this excerpt is in the simplicity. love the part about the bookshelves. Justice Sep 2017 #74

sheshe2

(83,582 posts)
3. That is a beautiful passage, Nancy.
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 03:38 PM
Sep 2017

Thank you for posting. She is a remarkable woman in so many ways.

MoonRiver

(36,926 posts)
4. Just beautiful and heartbreaking for what this country has lost.
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 03:39 PM
Sep 2017

I will read the book and probably cry my eyes out.

calimary

(81,040 posts)
32. No kidding!
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 05:57 PM
Sep 2017

Just - no kidding.

Heartbreaking is a good word. She would have been an outstanding president. What we, actually not only us in this country but those in the whole rest of the world world, too, have been denied - - - just no words.

Heartbreaking. It leaves me heartsick.

lapucelle

(18,180 posts)
5. Thank you for sharing this.
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 03:46 PM
Sep 2017

I never understood why the religious right was always so dismissive of Hillary for actually abiding by her marriage vow: "...for better or worse, until death do us part".

3catwoman3

(23,931 posts)
46. Bing-
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 07:25 PM
Sep 2017

Last edited Tue Sep 12, 2017, 12:23 AM - Edit history (1)

-effing-O!!! I don't understand it, either. Nor do I understand why the religious right has no problem with all of Melania's porno (oops - "modeling&quot pictures, yet freaked out when Michelle wore sleeveless dresses.

Hypocrisy, thy name is fundamentalism.

Scarsdale

(9,426 posts)
71. Well, ya see
Tue Sep 12, 2017, 07:47 AM
Sep 2017

Michelle is black, and Maleria is white. White ALL OVER as most of the world has seen!! I am certain that Hillary did not have to PAY Bill to be with her during the campaign, the way tRump had to pay his escort - oops - "wife". The gop has trouble understanding NORMAL people, don't they?

 

haveahart

(905 posts)
6. Bill Clinton, George Bush the elder, and George Bush younger, Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama, and even
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 03:46 PM
Sep 2017

Richard Nixon...married to the same woman they started out with in good times and bad times. RESPECT!

kag

(4,078 posts)
60. Congrats, livetohike.
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 08:56 AM
Sep 2017

My husband and I just celebrated our 26th, and I had the same reaction. Her description of Bill sounds so much like how I would describe my husband.

LakeArenal

(28,785 posts)
9. Bill is the lucky one.
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 03:54 PM
Sep 2017

I'm sure he agrees.

For my marriage of 42 years, we say,
"35 happy ones". Pretty good considering.

The whole family is quite a role model. Love you Clintons.

Lotusflower70

(3,077 posts)
10. Wow just wow
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 03:59 PM
Sep 2017

That is absolutely beautiful. Two strong willed people working together to build something lasting. It is so easy for some people on the outside to judge them. But they are a great combination. They chose to work through the dark times and it looks like they came out stronger on the other side. They compliment each other so well. They don't limit or diminish each other. That's a testament to their individual strengths uniting to create an even stronger bond. And some people will continue to hate on them. But they are the ones living these lives and they have to live with their choices. Screw the haters. They both have held up tremendously well all things considered.

George II

(67,782 posts)
11. Really shows her human side. The more excerpts that are released (or the more people actually....
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 04:13 PM
Sep 2017

...READ the book after it's available), the more we'll all see that the few petty and negative excerpts that were first released will be overwhelmed by how positive her book really is.

nolabear

(41,926 posts)
12. In her OWN words. Nobody else's. HER life. And she's shared it with us.
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 04:17 PM
Sep 2017

What a role model. Refusing to be defined and demeaned simply by the base opinions of others.

 

ehrnst

(32,640 posts)
13. An adult talking eloquently about deep, long-lasting love between adults in a real way.
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 04:18 PM
Sep 2017

She's damn eloquent.

Doreen

(11,686 posts)
14. That was great.
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 04:18 PM
Sep 2017

I agree with her that even though she and Bill are public figures it still is none of our business what goes on in their private life. I have always felt that way about any public or famous person. If they have committed a crime like rape, murder, or theft that is one thing because that erases your privacy but something like an affair is not illegal and not any of our business. I sure as hell did not notice his decisions on leading our country to be bad just because he was committing adultery. He obviously kept his personal life separate from his public life and we should do the same. I think that Hillary staying with him and working it out proved how strong she is and that is the type of person who I would want to be a leader. Don't most religions teach about the power to forgive?

volstork

(5,398 posts)
16. Don't most religions teach about the power to forgive?
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 04:28 PM
Sep 2017

Yes, they do. However, Amerikkkan "christianity" is not a religion; it's a cult.

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)
39. Many American Christians here, Volstork, and that's very insulting.
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 06:23 PM
Sep 2017

Bring it back in more than a bit? I've never been a person of faith, but I've managed it for years without attacking the religions of others, no matter how I despise personal behaviors that violate all doctrines. And here and there you will run across Christians who truly live their religion. You can tell those by an unusual degree of happy serenity. No hates, precious few guilts. Their lives are typically well ordered, bills paid, houses clean, charities donated to, neighbors cared for because they believe that's what god wants of them.

volstork

(5,398 posts)
48. I agree with you 100%.
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 07:45 PM
Sep 2017

My point was to call attention to those who twist the true doctrine of Christ into something distinctly un-Christlike, hence my use of quotation marks around the word christian. The "brand" of christianity many espouse would be completely unrecognizable to Christ, as it is to those who seek to live the teachings of Jesus: Matthew 25:40-45. Although I cannot technically call myself a Christian, as I do not hold to the central tenet of Christianity (the sacrifice of Jesus for the world's sins), I do believe that the way Jesus instructed his followers to live is deeply compassionate and inclusive, and I look on it as something to emulate.

It is not, nor has it ever been, my intention to bash those who truly live their faith and who hew to the teachings of Christ. Those who mangle what Jesus spoke are truly evil. THAT was my point.

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)
49. Oh, THOSE "Christians." They're easy to pick out also. :)
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 07:48 PM
Sep 2017

Turns out we do agree 100%, and that's very nice.

 

oberliner

(58,724 posts)
22. It is our business
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 04:56 PM
Sep 2017

Since he did what he did in the White House while on the phone conducting POTUS business.

nolabear

(41,926 posts)
28. Not the part between them.
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 05:40 PM
Sep 2017

Anything that had to do with governing, sure. How they work out their marriage, not at all.

Ilsa

(61,687 posts)
61. I agree with most of what you said.
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 09:52 AM
Sep 2017

This is a person who works for us, and if they are having an affair, they run the risk of affecting workplace morale if others know or are suspicious. Furthermore, their own cognitive dissonance may create guilt or feelings they act upon which may be poor judgment or not in the best interests of the nation.

Boomerproud

(7,934 posts)
24. Staying together ruined the haters narrative. That is what they are still so angry about.
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 05:17 PM
Sep 2017

They didn't get their "I told you so" moment. Hillary, especially, is stronger that they are. Will this part be excerpted-I doubt it.

Leith

(7,806 posts)
27. This Is Why We Should Be Able to Upvote Posts
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 05:27 PM
Sep 2017

I absolutely agree 100%. They may be very well known, but their private lives are their own.

blaze

(6,329 posts)
20. I did laugh at the run-on sentence about Bill reorganizing the bookshelves
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 04:45 PM
Sep 2017

Just a fun visual for me.

demigoddess

(6,640 posts)
25. After his presidency when she was a Senator, I saw him make a small talk to a class
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 05:20 PM
Sep 2017

somewhere. But when he talked about Hillary, he just glowed and you could see he loved her. And I heard him talk one time about the two of them doing marriage counseling right in the White House during all the scandal. That's why they stayed together. Love.

NastyRiffraff

(12,448 posts)
36. That is...just beautiful
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 06:10 PM
Sep 2017

All the hateful stories about that marriage are destroyed in a few wonderful paragraphs. I can't WAIT for the book!

MontanaMama

(23,285 posts)
37. She is clearly thinks deeply
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 06:14 PM
Sep 2017

and has done a lot of self reflection. How many people do you know who look critically at themselves and their own lives? Most folks are reactionary and don't think much of the hows and the whys that they do what they do. To choose to move forward in the wake of deep public pain...THAT is a bad ass. THAT is who should be our president right now.

Basic LA

(1,994 posts)
41. I always admired how she withstood adversity & hatred.
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 06:29 PM
Sep 2017

When I first saw--here--how she was loathed not only by her traditional foes on the right, but by so many on the "left," well I'll just never get over the viciousness of it. It'll never make sense to me.

Shoonra

(518 posts)
50. How nice to read this ....
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 08:17 PM
Sep 2017

This is a very welcome change of pace from the other news clippings which quote Hillary saying something bitter or resentful about Bernie, Trump, Obama, the Democratic National Committee, the media, etc., ad nauseum. Perhaps all those quotations of negative feelings, altho they now get played up in the press, represent one or at most two pages out of a 400 page book.

This except was very nice indeed.

3catwoman3

(23,931 posts)
51. One of the staff nurses at the peds office...
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 08:17 PM
Sep 2017

...where I work was practically dancing with joy the morning of November 9th, and exclaiming that she could never have voted for Hillary because of her husband's behavior.

This woman is herself divorced (I don't know the circumstances) and conceived her third child well before she and her second husband were married. I keep my mouth shut about politics at work, except with those I know share my outlook. Boy, would I love to be able to show her this excerpt, and also ask her how she would feel if she were denied a job for which she was eminently qualified because of how people felt about something her husband did, not something shedid.

onetexan

(13,018 posts)
52. Chelsea is so lucky to have such amazingly gifted, accomplished and loving parents
Sun Sep 10, 2017, 08:18 PM
Sep 2017

and of course her adorable kids. That said, she's no shrinking violet herself; Chelsea is very much her own accomplished woman .

R B Garr

(16,949 posts)
64. Love this! Her book is generating such huge interest. She is still a force
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 01:41 PM
Sep 2017

to be reckoned with.

You can see that Bill admires her so much for her fierce intellect. She describes a very compatible and enriching marriage.

ismnotwasm

(41,952 posts)
65. I love this
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 01:59 PM
Sep 2017

I have a very good marriage as well, and I can only hope to make it to 40+ years.

She lets the complex be complex and the personal be personal. I can't read things like this without grieving the loss of her.

NewJeffCT

(56,828 posts)
66. great passage
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 02:12 PM
Sep 2017

her comment on Bill re-organizing the bookshelves for the millionth time and she won't be able to find her books again is so much like my wife - she's the one that always is re-organizing things and I can never find where she puts things afterwards, and when i finally get used to her new organization, she goes and re-orgs again.

SpankMe

(2,953 posts)
67. While I do like Hillary - a lot, Bill is a god.
Mon Sep 11, 2017, 02:27 PM
Sep 2017

One of the greatest, true intellects on the planet. A completely coherent thinker. He loved being president, and it showed. He loved the job - every day of it. All this awesomeness pretty much rubbed off on Hillary. (Not that she wasn't brilliant and awesome already.

Bigredhunk

(1,347 posts)
70. -
Tue Sep 12, 2017, 07:21 AM
Sep 2017

Mt copy of "What Went Wrong" was delivered to my iPad along with Katy Tur's a few hours ago. It took a few hours, but reviews are starting to pour in for HRC's book. As of 6:20 AM CST there are 26 reviews. 48% 5-star/4% 2-star trolls/48% 1-star trolls.

Native

(5,936 posts)
72. I read this aloud to my husband during a family visit to Trump supporters,
Tue Sep 12, 2017, 01:55 PM
Sep 2017

and my SIL, who voted for Trump and still makes excuses for him, walked over to me and listened as I read. When I finished and looked up, she had tears in her eyes (as did I). Quite the moment.

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