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Bill: Hillary 2016 speculation is a lame topic right now. Oh, really?

Bill on Hillary 2016: Conjecture over whether Mrs. Clinton will run for president next time is 'worst expenditure of our time.' That's what he told attendees at a fiscal summit, anyway. Who's he kidding?

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Charles Dharapak/AP
Former President Bill Clinton and Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, speak about debt at the 2013 Fiscal Summit in Washington, Tuesday.

Bill Clinton wants everybody to just cool it with all this speculation about whether Hillary will or will not run for president in 2016, OK?

His tone was slightly disapproving and high-minded when he discussed the Hillary situation Tuesday night during an appearance at the 2013 Fiscal Summit, a heady event sponsored by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation to explore ways of hauling the US government out of its deficit mess.

“Hillary hasn’t mentioned it to me,” Mr. Clinton said after Bill Gates (yes, that Bill Gates) got the whole thing rolling with a wife-running-for-president-or-not reference.

Mrs. Clinton “is having a little fun being a private citizen for the first time in 20 years,” Mr. Clinton added.

Then he ripped into 2016 conjecture. It’s “the worst expenditure of our time,” he said.

Instead of wasting moments on will-she-or-won’t-she, we should explore solutions to the nation’s fiscal and policy problems, according to the Clinton, who is an ex-president.

“We need to be worried about the work at hand – all of us do,” Clinton said. “So whoever the next president is has an easier set of choices before him or her to build America’s future.”

Very nice, Bill. You’re full of it here, you know that?

We do need to be worried about the work at hand – that’s not the point. We can walk and chew gum at the same time. Mulling over Clinton-versus-Biden 2016 in no way eliminates the brain’s ability to consider chained CPI for Social Security.

In some ways those activities are complimentary. Candidates and possible candidates are weighing their chances and looking about to see what issues they should run on, and what their positions on those issues should be, writes the left-leaning Greg Sargent in his Plum Line Washington Post blog.

“It’s not too soon to be thinking about and working for the 2016 presidential nomination contest, because now is when it’s really possible to push the candidates on policy, which is what’s really important,” writes Mr. Sargent.

Plus, Bill Clinton is just the kind of person who would enjoy speculating about Hillary’s chances if she were not related to him in any way.

Politics has been his life. It’s what’s for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Do you not think he knows the names of which Iowa Democratic Party county chairman support Hillary, and when their birthdays are? Of course he does. He probably doodles “Hillary 2016” logos on those note pads they put out at the conferences he now attends, when he’s not speaking.

And finally, one word: “Benghazi.” It’s possible Bill is just trying to separate the image of Hillary the possible candidate from that of Hillary the ex-secretary of State on a day when House Republicans are holding a hearing that will be critical of her actions in regards to the Benghazi, Libya, attack that killed four Americans.

“I think the dam is about to break on Benghazi. We’re going to find people asleep at the switch when it comes to the State Department, including Hillary Clinton,” wrote Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) of South Carolina on his Facebook page Tuesday.

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