Bill Clinton puts his pants on (or takes his pants off) one leg at a time or something

On Tuesday Bill Clinton became the latest Clinton to attempt to extricate Hillary from the hole she has dug increasingly deeper for herself over the past three weeks concerning her financial status. The kerfuffle started when Hillary said that she and the former president were dead broke when they left the White House, then tried to smooth over that gaffe by insisting they weren’t that rich because they pay income tax. Next came daughter Chelsea, who added fuel to the fire by telling The UK Telegraph, “I was curious if I could care about [money] on some fundamental level, and I couldn’t.”

Sensing it was time for the master to show his underlings how it’s done, Bubba sat down for an interview with NBC’s David Gregory at the Clinton Global Initiative. Pupils Hillary and Chelsea sat obediently in the audience and listened as Bill endeavored to set the record straight.

“It is factually true that we were several million dollars in debt,” Bill Clinton said … in reference to the millions in legal fees they racked up in the White House. “Everybody now assumes that what happened in the intervening years was automatic; I’m shocked that it’s happened. I’m shocked that people still want me to come give talks.

The idea that now, after — I think I had the lowest net worth of any American President in the 20th century when I took office, but I still could have been tone-deaf,” said Clinton. “And, you know, now I don’t, and we’ve got a good life, and I’m grateful for it. But we go to our local grocery store on the weekend. We talk to people in our town. We know what’s going on. The real issue is if you’ve been fortunate enough to be successful, are you now out of touch and insensitive to the agonizing struggles other people are facing? That’s the real issue.

Perhaps it’s because I am not rich (nor do I go to the supermarket but sometimes I talk to my neighbors), or perhaps it’s because I am a conservative, but it seems to me the Clintons are a bit embarrassed about being wealthy.

The bottom line is that Hillary and the rest of the Clinton tag team are out of touch. When was the last time she was “regular people?” Hillary was first lady of Arkansas, first lady of the U.S., a U.S. Senator, Secretary of State … you get the idea. Will anyone really believe she hangs out in the kitchen with “the girls,” drinking coffee and clipping coupons? For God’s sake, the woman has had Secret Service protection nonstop since 1992. It’s been at least 22 years since Hillary or Bill has gone to the supermarket without being trailed by a guy with a white ear bud, packing heat.

This thing would have been over two weeks ago if Hillary was proud of being rich. If she said something like:

This is the greatest country in the world. We’ve worked our butts off and made over $100 million bucks since we left the White House. Nowhere else in the world can this happen.  I’ve seen both sides in my life, that’s why I am dedicating my life to make sure we bring opportunity to those Americans who have not been as lucky as we have been.”

I guarantee that would work much better than “we go to the supermarket and buy our own Grey Poupon. “

Cross-posted at The Lid