Hillary Clinton Clarifies ‘Jobs’ Gaffe, Rips Trickle-Down Economics

On Friday, Hillary Clinton bumbled a comment on trickle-down economics implying that corporations and businesses don’t create jobs. The conservative backlash was immediate and scathing and now the former senator has come out to clarify what she was trying to say.

Senator Clinton’s words at an event for the gubernatorial candidate Martha Coakley may have seemed a bit impromptu. With a informal tone, she explained her economic beliefs.

“Don’t let anybody tell you that it’s corporations and businesses that create jobs. You know that old theory, trickle-down economics. That has been tried, that has failed. It has failed rather spectacularly. One of the things my husband says when people say, ‘What did you bring to Washington?’ He says, ‘I brought arithmetic.'”

The line offered Republicans the kind of content that money just can’t buy.

The conservative super PAC America Rising threw Clinton’s gaffe on to the top of their website, including a video clip of her speech.

The Wall Street Journal compared the miscommunication to Barack Obama’s speech in 2012 where he said, “If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”

On Monday, at another campaign event, this time for Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, Hillary Clinton tried to back-track at least the corporations and businesses part while keeping up the central theme.

“So-called trickle-down economics has failed. I shorthanded this point the other day, so let me be absolutely clear about what I’ve been saying for a couple of decades: Our economy grows when businesses and entrepreneurs create good-paying jobs here in an America where workers and families are empowered to build from the bottom up and the middle out — not when we hand out tax breaks for corporations that outsource jobs or stash their profits overseas.”

Although her newly revised lines take out the most controversial punches, Hillary Clinton is still making a concerted effort to distance herself from Wall Street and the business community, a distance she may need if she’s serious about a run for president.

Hillary Clinton is not Elizabeth Warren, and Warren has criticized Clinton for being too close to special interests on Wall Street, a well-backed claim.

Hillary has spoken at events for Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, pocketing $200,000 in speaker fees. Goldman Sachs has also donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Clinton Foundation, according to Mother Jones Magazine.

In fact, Hillary Clinton’s relationship with the finance industry may go back to her husband’s presidency when Goldman chairman Robert Rubin was the administration’s economic adviser.

As the New York Times reported, one senior banker said of Hillary Clinton, “the reality is that she might have to tack left a little for the party. What I don’t know is whether she will stay there or double back.”

Another banker added, “I doubt she meant that.”

In the end, the conservative backlash against Hillary Clinton may not be so bad, not because they understand that she misspoke but because they don’t believe her anyway.

[Image Credit: The Official White House Photostream]