Speaking in Saudi Arabia, Bill Clinton rhapsodized Mohammed as a sort of Arab Henry Ford, and said that if cars had been around 1400 years ago (stay with me here), not only would Mohammed have made the desert kingdom the first automobile producing nation on earth, he would have even let the women drive!

Saudi Arabia bars women from driving and being seen in public with men other than family members.

A fatwa, or edict, issued by the head of the country’s Department of Religious Research, Missionary Activities and Guidance in 1990 declared women should not be allowed to drive because Islam supports women’s dignity.

Clinton said, however, Muhammad would have let his wife get behind the wheel.

“He probably would have made Saudi Arabia the first automobile producing nation on earth and put her in charge of the business,” he said, according to Reuters.

The former president was speaking at a conference in the Red Sea port of Jeddah, where women delegates, covered in black robes, were separated in the meeting hall from the men by a screen.

OK. That’s stretching a metaphor w-a-a-a-y past the breaking point.