Hillary Clinton Says Obama Campaign Wanted Her to 'Attack' Sarah Palin

Hillary Clinton’s Hard Choices comes out today and its publication brings more fascinating revelations about what the Obama campaign wanted her to do to weaken the McCain/Palin ticket in 2008, how her participation in Texts From Hillary came about and stuff about Monica Lewinsky.

First: the Obama campaign request, which Clinton told Robin Roberts was just one moment of “sexism that — unfortunately — was present in that ’08 campaign.” It might sound horrible, but in a political world where operatives think of people according to the voting category they fit into, it’s entirely unsurprising that the Obama campaign would want the Democratic female presidential candidate to knock down the Republican female vice presidential candidate. In an interview airing Tuesday night with Cynthia McFadden on NBC’s Nightly News, Clinton said of Palin:

“The day she was nominated, the Obama campaign did contact me and asked me if I would attack her. I said, ‘Attack her for what — for being a woman? Attack her for being on a ticket that’s trying to draw attention? There’ll be plenty of time to do what I think you should do in politics, which is draw distinctions.'”

Sarah Palin then took this moment to remind everyone that she was once a viable candidate for the second-highest position in the country. Everyone laughed.

Second, the Text from Hillary heard round the world. If you’d like to hear a very dry retelling of a story you already know, here it is. According to Clinton, when that photo was taken she was preparing to go to Libya, which was far more exciting than any meme:

At the time Walker took that photo, however, fun was the furthest thing from my mind. I was preparing for what promised to be a grueling day in a war-torn capital with a government that had little hold on power and even less experience running a country.

Third, Monica Lewinsky, always Monica Lewinsky. During the Diane Sawyer interview on Monday night, Clinton – “the most talked about woman in America” – addressed Monica Lewinsky’s recent Vanity Fair piece:

Well, she’s perfectly free to do that. She is, in my view, an American who gets to express herself however she chooses. But that’s not something that I spend a lot of time thinking about.

I have moved on and that’s how I see my life and my future.

I would wish her well. I hope that she is able to think about her future and construct a life that she finds meaning and satisfaction in.

Clinton also said that Benghazi gives her “more of a reason to run [for President], because I do not believe our great country should be playing minor league ball” (she called the investigation into her handling of the attack a Republican “diversion”) and addressed her family’s money issues upon leaving the White House.

Finally, Hillary will probably decide to run within the year, after she’s helped with the midterm elections (“I’m going to decide when it feels right for me to decide”) and has some pretty good advice for all people. “Do what is necessary to be resilient. Your life is filled with disappointments.” I for one will need that resilience to make it through the roughly 1,000 more interviews she’ll be doing to promote this book.