Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton lamented that some Americans see her as aloof and cold, but insisted she doesn’t see herself that way.
“I know that I can be perceived as aloof or cold or unemotional,” Clinton said in the interview with the anti-Donald Trump blog, ‘Humans of New York.’
She “had to learn as a young woman to control my emotions.” Clinton continued, “Because you need to protect yourself, you need to keep steady, but at the same time you don’t want to seem ‘walled off.’ And sometimes I think I come across more in the ‘walled off’ arena.”
Clinton also acknowledged the superior public speaking abilities of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, as well as of President Barack Obama.
I’m not Barack Obama. I’m not Bill Clinton. Both of them carry themselves with a naturalness that is very appealing to audiences. But I’m married to one and I’ve worked for the other, so I know how hard they work at being natural. It’s not something they just dial in. They work and they practice what they’re going to say.
“You have to communicate in a way that people say: ‘OK, I get her,’ And that can be more difficult for a woman,” Clinton continued.
She said she wants “to do the same thing,” but can’t be so passionate when speaking.
“I love to wave my arms, but apparently that’s a little bit scary to people. And I can’t yell too much. It comes across as ‘Too loud’ or ‘too shrill’ or ‘Too this’ or ‘Too that.’ Which is funny, because I’m always convinced that the people in the front row are loving it.”
The former Secretary of State also told a story about taking a law school admissions exam at Harvard and being harassed by some men in the room. CNN reported that Clinton shared a version of this story during a May interview with New York magazine. Clinton ended up attending Yale Law School.
CNN previously reported on Humans of New York blog creator Brandon Stanton’s visit with Obama. He visited when the President met with a 13-year-old boy whom had been featured in a post to the blog.
Stanton also posted online in March an anti-Trump open letter to the Republican presidential nominee. The post called Trump “racist” along with several other criticisms.
Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana
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