You're rich enough, Hillary. Or are you?

This is someone who clearly worked much harder than her husband in law school. She worked even harder in Little Rock to support her husband both emotionally and financially even though he didn’t care all that much about money or … other aspects of their marriage. She had to suffer the indignities of trying to have an influence on policy as first lady, even though that’s a fantastically awkward position from which to exercise the levers of power. Her opponents drowned her and her husband in legal fees throughout their eight years in the White House. Humiliated by her husband’s scandals, she struck out on her own, first as a senator, then as a presidential candidate, then as Secretary of State. And despite all of that effort, despite the $200,000 Goldman Sachs speeches she delivers, she’s still not as well off as the run-of-the-mill hedge fund manager. At the same time, she likely does face a higher income tax rate, because her income does not come via carried interest or capital gains. If she runs for president in 2016, she’s going to have to cadge enormous sums of money from these people to fund her campaign. Does this burn her sense of how the world should work? I bet it does.

The problem is the less sympathetic counternarrative that is all too easy to construct and likely to appeal in varying degrees to the 99 percent of Americans who wish they had Clinton’s money problems.. This is the narrative that points out that despite Clinton’s elitist credentials, she and her husband lived off of the state of Arkansas for most of the years between her graduation from law school and her husband’s election to president. In an effort to build a larger nest egg, she engaged in some financial dealings that raised some eyebrows. She botched the one major policy initiative handed to her during her husband’s two terms, and then traded in her family name for a relatively safe Senate seat. Yes, she was in debt in 2000, but as Matt Yglesias pointed out, “you need to be really rich to go that deeply into debt.” The wealth that she and her husband have earned since his time as president is almost entirely derived from being the most glorified “formers” in the United States. Most of this money is earned through book advances and paid speeches because of their fame. If Clinton is upset at her financial situation, it can only be in comparison to those in her social and professional circles.