Opinion: No, Hillary Clinton should not just go away even though she lost to Trump

To the editor: I disagree with Doyle McManus’ criticisms of Hillary Clinton’s book. (“‘What Happened’ in 2016? Hillary Clinton still doesn’t know,” Opinion, Sept. 10)

McManus refers to her as a losing candidate like Richard Nixon in 1960, who also wrote about his defeat. But he lost the popular vote and the electoral college; she had a winning margin of about 3 million votes.

Writing about his election loss did not stop Nixon from eventually winning the popular and electoral votes in 1968 — and even though he won the latter, he understood how anti-democratic it was and tried to abolish it. Maybe if Al Gore had written something to remind us of the president we could have had, there might have been the impetus for getting rid of the electoral college or less of a chance that George W. Bush would be reelected.

Since the people who voted for Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary have decided to relitigate the election (which is much more of a threat to the Democrats’ future success than Clinton’s book), it’s important to be reminded who won the most votes by far in both the primary and the general election.

Scott S. Smith, West Hollywood

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To the editor: Nixon is precisely the person I would expect Clinton to emulate: He was secretive, paranoid and always looking to blame others.

Whether real or imagined enemies, they both kept their lists. Clinton’s walk in the woods recalls Nixon’s wingtips on the beach.

And now she joins him as the most bitter presidential loser in American history. No surprise.

Robert Chapman, Downey

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To the editor: During the election campaign, supporters of Donald Trump wanted to “lock her up.” Now everyone wants to shut her up.

But before we do, can we take the time to examine the deeply held misogynistic beliefs that permeate the American culture?

Susan Treadwell, Los Angeles

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