Bill Clinton had some ‘splaining to do.
Stumping on behalf of his wife in Washington State on Monday, the former president was making a case for his wife’s candidacy when he took a seemingly inexplicable shot at President Barack Obama, telling a crowd of supporters they should support Hillary Clinton if they believe “we’ve finally come to the point where we can put the awful legacy of the last eight years behind us.”
Not surprisingly, conservative news sites had a field day, prompting right-leaning news site WND to ask, “What’s got into Bill Clinton: Trashing Obama?”
Here is the full quote:
I literally from the time I met her 45 years ago ’til we talked yesterday, she is the best change-maker I have ever known. She always finds a way to make something good happen, to make people feel empowered, to buy people into the process, to make democracy work the way the framers intended for it to work.
Now, if you don’t believe we can all grow together again, if you don’t believe we’re ever going to grow again, if you believe it’s more important to re-litigate the past, there may be many reasons that you don’t want to support her.
But if you believe we can all rise together, if you believe we’ve finally come to the point where we can put the awful legacy of the last eight years behind us and the seven years before that when we were practicing trickle-down economics and no regulation in Washington, which is what caused the crash, then you should vote for her because she’s the only person who basically had good ideas will tell you how she’s going to pay for them, can be commander in chief and is a proven change maker with Republicans and Democrats and independents alike.
According to USA Today, an aide to Bill Clinton quickly issued a statement clarifying the comments, insisting the former president was referring to Republicans, not Obama.
“When Republicans controlled the White House, their trickle-down approach drove our economy to the brink of a collapse. After President Obama was elected, Republicans made it their number one goal to block him at every turn,” spokesman Angel Urena said in a statement. “That unprecedented obstruction these last eight years is their legacy, and the American people should reject it by electing Hillary Clinton to build on President Obama’s success so we can all grow and succeed together.”
Watch President Clinton’s gaffe in the video above.