Forty-eight years after giving her own commencement speech as a student, Hillary Clinton returned to Wellesley College to do it again.
On Friday, the former first lady returned to her alma mater to give the commencement speech for the class of 2017. Her speech focused on empowering the graduates, offering advice on business and interpersonal communication. It was heavy where it needed to be, but for the most part light-hearted; Clinton even took a whack at humor, poking fun at her shocking presidential loss, and how she made the most of it.
[salon_video id="14772225"]"You may have heard that things didn't exactly go the way I planned," she said, early in her speech. "But you know what, I'm doing okay. Long walks in the woods, organizing my closets. I won't lie, the Chardonnay helped a little too."
When speaking about changing one's mind, she offered up advice from her own past.
"You may be convinced to change your mind from time to time," she said. "And you know what, that's okay — take it from me, the former president of the Wellseley College Young Republicans."
Of course, amid the lighthearted jokes, the resident "nasty woman" couldn't resist a few well-timed shots at the man to whom she lost in November.
"There will be trolls galore online and in person, they will be eager to tell you you don't have anything worthwhile to say or contribute," she said, then added with a smile, "they may even call you a nasty woman."
As she took the opportunity to warn the graduates about the political climate they were entering into, she took another shot.
“You are graduating at a time when there is a full fledged assault on truth and reason," she said. She mentioned that there will be people who deny science, and deny climate change, and added coyly: "Some are even denying stuff we can see with our eyes. Like the size of crowds."
But perhaps the most backhanded comment was when she compared Trump's current political situation to former President Richard Nixon.
She reminisced about her time at Wellesley, and how she and her peers were "furious" over the election of Richard Nixon, whose term she said "would end in disgrace with impeachment for obstruction of justice after firing the person running the investigation into him at the Department of Justice."
The speech concluded with a message to women, letting them know that doors that may have seemed sealed in the past are rapidly opening up for them, and to keep fighting. In fact, throughout the speech, there seemed to be a constant message: when you get knocked down, get back up. Hills is still kicking.
"Some of you might wonder, well, why am I telling you this?" she asked. "You don't own a cable news network, you aren't a member of Congress — Yet."
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