Hillary Clinton has apologized for her claim that young people today “think work is a four-letter word.”

Mrs. Clinton explained that she was chastised by her daughter Chelsea, who called her to say, “Mom, I do work hard and my friends work hard.”

(After working hard to get a two-year master’s degree from Oxford, Chelsea works hard pulling down a six-figure salary as a “consultant,” a job which she surely had to work hard to get. At least the Bush girls are doing something useful.)

Mrs. Clinton told Chelsea, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to convey the impression that you don’t work hard.”

Which, of course, is exactly the impression that Hillary meant to convey.

Clinton made the original remarks at a speech before the largely-Republican U.S. Chamber of Commerce. She backtracked in a commencement address at Long Island University.

The whole episode reminds one of why it is so hard to like Mrs. Clinton.

The original comment—which is actually kind of interesting, and I think not entirely wrong—was a craven attempt to win over an audience more conservative than she in preparation for a presidential run.

The flip-flop is the inevitable result of saying something that you may or may not mean but which is primarily intended to win the support of an audience which normally wouldn’t support you. It’s hard to stand behind a remark that you probably didn’t believe in the first place.

I still think that the Democrats need a credible alternative to Hillary Clinton… As Newt Gingrich points out, her negatives are awfully high.