There has been way too much fuss this past month about Hillary Clinton's wealth as she decides whether to wage another run for the presidency.
So what if she can charge $200,000 per speech, and so what if she and her husband have a net worth in the tens of millions? People who criticize her fortune have forgotten that Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a man born into extreme wealth, created Social Security as well as jobs for millions of unemployed Americans during the Great Depression through the Works Progress Administration. They have forgotten that another President raised in riches, John F. Kennedy, proposed free medical care to the elderly, which later became Medicare. And they have forgotten that Kennedy's successor, Lyndon Johnson, who was a multimillionaire partly due to his ownership of a TV and radio station in Texas, launched a War on Poverty by singing into law Medicare, Medicaid, and Head Start.
This of course doesn't mean that all Presidents who experienced affluence made the lives of the downtrodden better during their administrations. George H.W. Bush, who made his fortune in Texas oil drilling, vetoed an increase in the minimum wage, while his son refused to extend health insurance to six million children.
No doubt the current debate about income inequality have put a harsher light on the Clinton's finances. The millions they have made since leaving the White House have been criticized and scrutinized as if by becoming rich they have suddenly become bad people. One columnist even went so far as to ask Mrs. Clinton to stop speaking for payment.
What does her speaking fee have to do with her ability to lead the Free World? What does the net worth of her and her husband have to do with how she governs as President?
Instead of focusing on what Mrs. Clinton has, we should focus on what she can do and her plan for America. That's what really matters.
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