For Hillary Clinton, becoming a grandmother made her “speed up,” not “slow down.”
In the updated epilogue for the paperback version of her memoir “Hard Choices,” Clinton casts herself as more of a mother and grandmother than a diplomat and politician, something the former secretary of state is expected to continue during her 2016 presidential campaign.
Clinton, who became a grandmother last year when her daughter gave birth to Charlotte, writes that the milestone “has made me think deeply about the responsibility we all share as stewards of the world we inherit and will one day pass on.”
“Rather than make me want to slow down,” she writes, “it has spurred me to speed up.”
She adds: “In just a few months, Charlotte had already helped me see the world in new ways. There was so much more to do.”
Clinton is planning to launch her presidential candidacy on Sunday through a video message on social media, a person close to her campaign-in-waiting told CNN on Friday.
“Hard Choices,” Clinton’s second memoir, was published last year and the paperback edition is set to come out later this month. The new edition features a softer, color photo of Clinton, dispensing with the black-and-white photo the graced the hardcopy.
“The paperback cover was from a photo shoot Secretary Clinton did for Glamour magazine last summer while promoting Hard Choices,” said Cary Goldstein, Executive Director of Publicity at Simon & Schuster. “We wanted to feature a color photograph on the paperback to attract new attention for the book. We liked this one the most. It was Simon & Schuster’s decision in consultation with Secretary Clinton.”
The epilogue, which was published exclusively at the Huffington Post, is the only material update in the paperback edition.
Clinton’s emphasis on her time as a parents and grandparent is an intentional one.
In the coming weeks and months, the Clinton campaign will look to hone in on that story, using Clinton’s own time raising a daughter to cast the presidential hopeful in a more favorable, softer light than she was seen during her failed 2008 presidential run.
“Thirty-four years before, when I was pregnant with Chelsea, Bill and I had no idea what to expect, despite the Lamaze classes we took together,” Clinton writes, referencing her husband, former President Bill Clinton. “I remember how frazzled he was when it was finally time to go to the hospital.”
She continues: “Some things never change. As I watch Bill carry Charlotte around our house, stopping at nearly every book on the shelf to explain the plot and how much she will enjoy reading it one day, I can’t help but remember how he used to walk Chelsea around the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion, singing and rocking until she fell asleep.”
Clinton has used these themes throughout much of her paid speaking tours over the last year. But most voters have not been paying close attention to every Clinton speech and her campaign aides hope they can use that to their advantage early in her campaign.
Almost hopefully, Clinton writes that the birth of her granddaughter “seemed to strike a chord with a lot of Americans,” noting that she and Chelsea Clinton, her daughter, received books and gifts from other mothers.
In what is sure to be a line she uses on the campaign trail, Clinton closes the epilogue by connecting her new granddaughter to a vision for the country.
“You shouldn’t have to be the granddaughter of a President or a Secretary of State to receive excellent health care, education, enrichment, and all the support and advantages that will one day lead to a good job and a successful life,” she writes. “That’s what we want for all our kids. And this isn’t just idealism. It’s a recipe for broadly-shared prosperity and a healthy democracy.”