HuffPo Hillary piece: "Just Do You"
This nails it for me. If I could give Hillary advice, this is what I'd say.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/natalie-jackson/hillary-clinton-just-do-you_b_7050306.html
Hillary Clinton has always been a divisive figure in American politics. But love her or hate her, she's now a two-time Presidential candidate. Perhaps some of her divisiveness comes from the struggle many ambitious women experience: The complex push-and-pull between who she is, who she wants to be and what society expects her to be.
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Clinton has traveled a long way to get to this point, and the path still seems unsteady. She seems to have an "authenticity problem." She is often perceived as aloof, perhaps hiding something and closed-off.
I think maybe she comes off this way because she's navigating a strange road between being the politician she is and being a woman as society and her advisers (and possibly she, herself) expect her to be. She has sometimes struggled with her image as a "woman in politics," but it's what she is, complete with all the baggage that comes with it.
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As you embark on this campaign, please unapologetically and completely be yourself. If that is a tough, ruthless politician, just do it instead of trying to balance external (or internal) standards of what women should do. But, let us see you as human, too -- if you struggle, don't hide it.
Everyone needs to see that it's not easy. No hiding behind email servers or campaign spokespeople when something comes out wrong. Trust me, the people who won't vote for you aren't changing their minds, regardless of what you do, so you might as well be who you are.
I'm not sure what I think you'd say back to me, but I really hope it would be that your conversations with Eleanor have helped you develop a thick enough skin to be yourself on this campaign regardless of what you think Americans want or what anyone tells you.
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