Hillary Clinton To Librarians: Books Helped Me Cope
(CBS) -- In her first Chicago appearance since her presidential election loss, Hillary Clinton talked little about the campaign – or President Trump -- but a lot about her two upcoming books.
CBS 2 Political Reporter Derrick Blakley has the story.
Speaking before a convention of 22,000 adoring librarians at McCormick Place, Clinton says she greeted the outgoing American Library Association leader with a title she wished was her own.
"The phrase 'madam president' is still one of my favorites," she said Tuesday.
Democrat Clinton added that books soothed the pain after her election loss in November.
"I've enjoyed working my way through the growing stack of books that people have sent me, often with notes that say things like, 'This one helped me. I hope it will help you.'"
The former U.S. Secretary of State says her new memoir, coming this fall, will examine her election loss to Republican Trump, and what it's really like for a woman to run for president.
"But ultimately, it's about resilience, how to get back up after a loss," she says.
In her only swipe at Trump, Clinton defended the work librarians do as a protection of free speech.
"I believe libraries and democracy go hand in hand," she said. "That's why it's so hard to believe that in 2017 in America, libraries are actually under attack from our own government."
The proposed Trump budget eliminates $230 million in federal aid to libraries.
"It's not just cuts," Jim Neal, president of the American Library Association. "It's elimination of all the programs we care about."
The library association is working with Congress to get those cuts restored.
Clinton has two books on the way. One is that memoir. The other is an illustrated, children's version of the saying associated with her, "It takes a village."
Both will be published by Simon & Schuster, a subsidiary of CBS. The publisher sponsored Clinton's appearance.