When you’re Hillary Clinton, even a quiet year is busy. The former secretary of state spent her first full year in decades as a private citizen crisscrossing the country giving speeches, writing a book, helping to grow the charitable foundation started by her husband, campaigning for Democrats, and laying the groundwork for a likely presidential run.
She hardly went more than a few days without some kind of public appearance, and rarely stayed in one city for very long. Even her vacations were interrupted by book promotions or speaking gigs. That’s Hillary Clinton’s idea of relaxing.
But not all of it was good for her. In fact, some moments were downright bad. Here’s a look back at Clinton’s ups and downs in 2014:
THE LOW TIMES:
Wealth gaffesClinton made a series of comments about her wealth that became quick fodder for Republican critics while promoting her book. First, she told ABC she was “dead broke” when she and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, left the White House in 2001. Then she told The Guardian she was not “truly well off.” She later said she regretted the comments, but they’ve continued to haunt her.
A clumsy break from ObamaIn an interview with The Atlantic, Clinton broke the typical party omerta to criticize President Obama’s foreign policy. That led to a week of press coverage about tensions between the camps, and snarky counter-shots from Obama allies. Clinton appeared to have gone farther than she intended, and her spokesperson later said she and the president would “hug it out” and smooth things over when they next saw each other.
Book salesClinton has a more ambitious job in mind than being an author, but she has to be disappointed by sales of her memoir “Hard Choices,” which covered her tenure as secretary of state. The book did well at first, but sales fell off quickly following some negative reviews and recognition that the volume offered few new salacious details. A book attacking Clinton by a conservative author eventually overtook Clinton’s book, as did the memoir of likely GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson.
Speaking fees Clinton was dogged by her astronomical speaking fees, especially for public universities, throughout the year. For instance, she charged the University of California at Los Angeles $300,000 to appear at the school — and that was a discount, according to The Washington Post. Even though the money went to the Clinton foundation, it still raised question accusations that she was fleecing the schools. Others called her out of touch for thinking $300,000 is as discount.
THE HIGH TIMES:









