WASHINGTON: Hillary Clinton says she is “done” being a political candidate, and that her shock US presidential loss last year to Donald Trump remains a source of deep anguish.

“It still is very painful. It hurts a lot,” the 2016 Democratic nominee said in an interview on CBS Sunday Morning, the first in a series of appearances to highlight the upcoming publication of What Happened, her memoir about the campaign. “I am done with being a candidate,” she said. “As an active politician, it’s over.”

If true, Clinton is closing the door on a storied political career that saw her become the first woman presidential nominee of a major US political party.

She also served eight years representing New York in the Senate, and eight years as US first lady.

The former secretary of state, who is 69, has teased out several excerpts from her book ahead of its Tuesday release.

In those, she takes responsibility for her devastating loss to Trump. But she also blames Russian election interference, and extraordinary decisions by then-FBI director James Comey to reopen an investigation into her emails.

She also points the finger at allies including then-president Barack Obama, former vice president Joe Biden, and her progressive rival for the Democratic nomination, Bernie Sanders.

Sunday’s interview, conducted in Clinton’s home outside New York City, showed the former nominee apparently still uncomfortable with what happened in last year’s election — and admitting she was unprepared for the conditions in the United States that led to Trump’s victory.

“The forces that were at work in 2016 were unlike anything that I’ve ever seen or read about,” she said. “It was a perfect storm.”

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2017