"Often times when you face such an overwhelming challenge as global climate change, it can be somewhat daunting - it's kind of like trying to lose weight, which I know something about"
About this Quote
The self-deprecating tag - “which I know something about” - is the pressure-release valve. It softens the scold. Climate messaging often curdles into moral accounting: you flew, you consumed, you failed. Clinton flips that dynamic by putting herself in the confession booth first, signaling empathy rather than superiority. That’s especially useful coming from a national figure who’s frequently read as managerial or scripted; a small personal admission aims to make the policy machine feel human.
The subtext, though, is also strategic risk management. Weight loss is a familiar narrative of personal responsibility, and importing it into climate politics nudges listeners toward incrementalism: small steps, persistence, lifestyle tweaks. That can be motivating, but it can also conveniently downplay the structural reality that climate action isn’t just willpower; it’s regulations, energy grids, corporate behavior, and government investment. In the Obama-era context of contested climate policy and message-fragile coalitions, the metaphor is doing double duty: normalizing urgency while avoiding panic, asking for endurance without demanding revolution.
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Clinton, Hillary. (2026, January 18). Often times when you face such an overwhelming challenge as global climate change, it can be somewhat daunting - it's kind of like trying to lose weight, which I know something about. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/often-times-when-you-face-such-an-overwhelming-20015/
Chicago Style
Clinton, Hillary. "Often times when you face such an overwhelming challenge as global climate change, it can be somewhat daunting - it's kind of like trying to lose weight, which I know something about." FixQuotes. January 18, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/often-times-when-you-face-such-an-overwhelming-20015/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Often times when you face such an overwhelming challenge as global climate change, it can be somewhat daunting - it's kind of like trying to lose weight, which I know something about." FixQuotes, 18 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/often-times-when-you-face-such-an-overwhelming-20015/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.




