The hard times of Hillary Clinton

With very few exceptions, national politicians are not typical Americans.

They lead a privileged life and when they enter rooms, people stand and applaud. That alone can skew a person’s view of their place in the world. For someone who lives in the White House, the danger of assuming you’re like most Americans can be particularly dangerous.

Hillary Clinton proved that with the release of her new book, “Hard Choices,” which hits the stores today. In an interview with ABC, she claimed she and her husband were “dead broke” when they left the White House, thanks to the legal bills they’d run up while Pennsylvania Avenue occupants.

“We came out of the White House not only dead broke but in debt,” Clinton said. “We had no money when we got there, and we struggled to piece together the resources for mortgages for houses, for Chelsea’s education. You know, it was not easy.”

They ended up buying an estate in Chappaqua, New York for $1.7 million. The property taxes, alone, ran $50,000.

The Clinton daughter had to settle for an undergraduate degree at Stanford University, and then a master’s from Oxford University and then Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. And, finally, a doctorate from the University of Oxford in 2014.

If you’re keeping score, that’s four degrees. And somehow the Clintons afforded the $27,000 a year for her tuition at Sidwell Friends School in Washington.

The Washington Post looked at Clinton’s campaign finance documents and found the claim was mostly nonsense. Although they had less than $10 million in assets, the Clintons cashed in on their biggest asset — the presidency — and wiped it away in a year, eclipsed by a massive increase in wealth.

Washington Post

Perhaps mindful of the gaffe she made yesterday, Clinton tried to smooth things over today, saying she and her husband “fully appreciate how hard life is for so many Americans.” She changed her self-evaluation from “dead broke,” to “obviously blessed.”

Clinton, of course, isn’t the first presidential candidate with a fat bank account to bemoan the tough times of the rich. But, unlike several previous Republican candidates, strategists don’t think her wealth will be an issue, CBS reports.

Related: Only a rich person could go as broke as Hillary Clinton (Vox).

What's needed to 'move on up' in Minnesota? (Twin Cities Daily Planet).