Bill Clinton on Principles & Values President of the U.S., 1993-2001; Former Democratic Governor (AR)

Sub-sections under Principles & Values:
• Early Life
• Hillary Clinton
• Impeachment Scandal
• Personal History
• Political Philosophy
• Post-Presidential Legacy
• Previous Campaigns
• Religion
• Other issues under Principles & Values

Always take the time to honor and respect the people

It wasn't as if the president had to win over anyone in that room; they all loved him before he showed up. They loved him even more after he showed up and spoke. Two hours of handshaking didn't get him one additional vote. He had them all.

2015: Encouraged Trump to run for President

When I asked Trump if he could see himself becoming friendly with a former president after leaving office or rekindling a friendship with Bill Clinton, as onetime rivals and former presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson had done, he said, "It's possible. Anything's possible."

Lying about sex is not an abuse of presidential power

2001: Pardoned Marc Rich on last day of presidency

The New York Times called the pardon "a shocking abuse of federal power". Amid allegations the pardon had been issued in exchange for promises of contributions by Marc Rich's ex-wife to President Clinton's presidential library, [Rudy Giuliani's office] opened an investigation focused on whether the was evidence of corrupt bargain. When I became US Attorney in 2002, I inherited the investigation, which had been the subject of media stories.

America comes through every fire a little stronger

Good Friday Agreement ended the Troubles in Northern Ireland

In 1995, Bill appointed former Sen. George Mitchell as Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. Bill became the 1st US President to visit Northern Ireland when he and I traveled to Belfast later that year.

The Good Friday Agreement, which was signed that year and put Northern Ireland on the path toward peace, was a triumph of diplomacy, especially for Bill and George Mitchell, who did so much to bring the parties together. Most of all, though, it was a testament to the courage of the people of Northern Ireland. Implementation would be bumpy, but peace began to bring benefits. Unemployment fell, home values rose, and the number of American companies investing in Northern Ireland increased.

First US President to visit Northern Ireland

In 1995, Bill appointed former Senator George Mitchell as Special Envoy for Northern Ireland. Bill became the 1st US President to visit Northern Ireland when he and I traveled to Belfast later that year, and turned on the lights of Belfast's Christmas tree in front of a vast crowd.

I returned to Northern Ireland nearly every year for the rest of the decade and stayed actively involved as a Senator in the years that followed.

Good Friday Agreement ended the Troubles in Northern Ireland

The Good Friday Agreement, which was signed that year and put Northern Ireland on the path toward peace, was a triumph of diplomacy, especially for Bill and George Mitchell [appointed by Bill as Special Envoy for Northern Ireland], who did so much to bring the parties together. Most of all, though, it was a testament to the courage of the people of Northern Ireland. Implementation would be bumpy, but peace began to bring benefits. Unemployment fell, home values rose, and the number of American companies investing in Northern Ireland increased.

Conflict makes good politics, but cooperation works

When times are tough and people are frustrated and angry and hurting and uncertain, the politics of constant conflict may be good, but what is good politics does not necessarily work in the real world. What works in the real world is cooperation.

What works in the real world is cooperation, business and government, foundations and universities. Now, why is this true? Why does cooperation work better than constant conflict? Because nobody's right all the time, and a broken clock is right twice a day.

Unfortunately, the faction that now dominates the Republican Party doesn't see it that way. They think government is always the enemy, they're always right, and compromise is weakness.

America is an idea: play by the rules and pursue your dreams

Work is about more than making a living. It's fundamental to human dignity, to our sense of self-worth as useful, independent, free people.

It's heartbreaking to see so many people trapped in a web of enforced idleness, deep debt, and gnawing self doubt.

Our political system hasn't done a good job of meeting our challenges, and [that's] why government still matters and what it should do. I want American Dreams growth--lots of new businesses, well-paying jobs, and American leadership in new industries, like clean energy and biotechnology.

Liberal and Conservations can learn from each other

Today, our process is too tilted in favor of powerful private interests over the public interest, in favor of short-term financial gains over long-term employment and income growth, in favor of consumption over investment, in favor of pushing more of our national income up to the top 1 percent over increasing the incomes of the middle class and giving poor people a chance to work their way into it.

2012 voters should understand this recession is different

A: I think the President will be able to rely on the fact that he has tried to come up with a serious and comprehensive plan. The question is, Will voters understan that this was a different sort of recession and then evaluate the competing candidates in terms of whether their ideas are more or less likely to get us out of the fix we're in? You know, I think people are pretty smart once they understand the deal.

2001: outgoing staff removed "W" from computer keyboards

The most disruptive thing they did was to remove phones from one office and put them in another. At the White House, each phone is programmed to work at a specific outlet. Plug it in elsewhere and it won't work. Departing Clinton staffers moved about one hundred phones to the wrong outlets and there was no simple way to figure out where each one belonged. Some of my colleagues were without phone service for almost a week as technicians sorted out the mess.

OpEd: MonicaGate sin was self-indulgence, not immorality

When Bill Clinton's dalliance with Monica Lewinsky was entertaining America, Bloomberg was indignant. Casual acquaintances were amazed to hear him vent angrily about the president. Clinton's behavior was not only outrageous, he would say, it was unacceptable; he should resign. Mike Bloomberg suddenly a prig? No way. He saw Clinton's offense not as immoral; it was self-indulgent, lacking self-control. Not the Bloomberg way.

Founders knew that America, to endure, would have to change

All great contests are head games

Clinton had always regarded political contests as the greatest contests of all. He loved them, lived for them, mastered them--in no small part because he understood the psychological rules so well. Successful combatants, Clinton said, had to put "distance between them and these withering attacks" they would face. "You just have to know they're coming in different ways and you just can't let yourself be defined by them." You couldn't let them undermine your judgment. Couldn't let yourself be paralyzed. "Only a small percentage of what voters are looking for is whether any of this stuff if true," he said. "What they're really looking for is to see, how is this person going to react?"

[In the 2008 NH primary], Clinton had been playing a head game with Obama and had arguably been winning.

Exited office with peace, prosperity, & historic popularity

OpEd: The ultimate surrogate campaigner, popular everywhere

Bill insisted that Hillary compete all out in S.C., against the advice of her top advisers. Bill wanted to demonstrate that he still had political force and influence within the African-American community. [Obama won S.C. overwhelmingly.]

OpEd: Feeds on energy from personal contact with crowds

"We had a young, gregarious guy who absolutely thrived on and was energized by being in crowds," another agent says. "We weren't going to have a conversation saying, 'Sir, you're really going to have to change. This isn't presidential.' We really had to redefine the way we did business on the road."

The Secret Service adapted to the fact that Clinton would plunge unpredictably into crowds. They identified places where Clinton could go and allow agents to scout out the areas in advance.

OpEd: Won election by going where others unwilling to tread

Rebuild the American dream and restore American leadership

1992: Applied Reagan's method to his presidential transition

The irony was that Bill was an avid student of history and had read at least 10 presidential biographies for guidance on successful transitions. He cited Ronald Reagan's disciplined approach as his model, specifying that he would "follow Reagan's pattern in establishing a limited set of priorities." George Stephanopoulos said that, like Reagan, his boss didn't want to get "sidetracked by side issues." Indeed, the Reagan transition was a paragon of efficiency and planning that began 7 months before Election Day, with nearly 1,000 people working on it. By contrast, the Clinton transition sometimes seemed to have a staff of two--Bill & Hillary--and their failure to delegate slowed the appointment process to a crawl

Despite critics, fervent believer in policy solutions

Over the next two years, Clinton would find himself walking a thin line between implementing policies that could dramatically contribute to the lives of his fellow Arkansans, and attempting not to rattle of the establishment and the good ol’ boys who ran the legislature.

Promise of ethical reform invited harsh unceasing scrutiny

Moreover, the underlying assumptions of some of the basic charges & assertions that fueled the unceasing investigation--most notably those related to the so-called Whitewater matter--were often contextually misleading, exaggerated in significance, and sometimes factually off-base.

Yet there can be no question that the Clintons had invited unusual scrutiny by their impassioned promises of probity to voters in the campaign of 1992, and an unwavering inaugural theme that stressed the ethical reform they said they were bringing to Washington. There was something of an implicit challenge in their manner.

When he set the agenda, he won; but scandals interfered

The joint Clinton presidency lost the ability to set the national agenda as no other modern presidency had Whenever Clinton was able to regain control of the agenda, he was almost always successful: the economic plan, NAFTA, welfare reform, and a series of orders & actions toward the end of his administration that made higher education available to almost any American. His perseverance in winning the major achievements of his presidency were extraordinary.

From its outset until Clinton’s acquittal in the Senate trial, the terms of the national debate were more often set by the press, the Clintons’ enemies, the Republican opposition, and the special prosecutor. The best efforts of the Clintons, their aides and lawyers were spent in response to investigations. The Clinton presidency was sapped of its almost limitless potential.

OpEd: Fairy tale that Clinton emerged from nowhere in 1992

Right? Wrong. There are, of course, any number of problems with this story, as there are with any good fairy tale.

First of all, everyone in politics had known, or known of, Bill Clinton for 20 years before he ran for president. He was the boy wonder, for goodness's sakes, not an unknown.

Second, Bill Clinton was the front-runner from the start in 1992. That's why he was on the cover of Time--before the Gennifer Flowers story broke. Clinton recovered, because he was as experienced as you get, and had all the advantages of the front-runner in a front-loaded system.

Republicans have to portray Democrats as unacceptable to win

Strength and wisdom are not opposing values

Right wing ideology trumps compassionate conservatism

First president to admit he participated in psychotherapy

The last was an admission that I didn't appreciate sufficiently at the time: Bill Clinton was the first American President to admit that he had participated in a form of psychotherapy.

I asked Clinton what he'd learned in family therapy. "Well," he said without hesitation, "there are different sorts of addictions." By which I assumed he meant--I was too embarrassed to pursue this aggressively--that his addiction was to fame & success & glory.

The conversation did establish an important subtext for Clinton's success as a politician in the 1990s: his thorough mastery of the therapeutic vocabulary and the trompe l'oeil sense of intimacy it provided. I barely knew the man and we were talking, or seeming to talk, about the most ridiculously intimate things.

Awe & disappointment intertwined in Clinton staff

OpEd: Sloppy personal habits reflected in sloppy policy

The Paula Jones story had the ring of truth--at least, Ferguson's version did--and it gained great currency in Washington. In a May 1994 Newsweek essay, I argued that Clinton's tendency toward sloppy policy-making, particularly overseas, might be a reflection of his sloppy personal habits. The argument soon was prove wrong-headed (to its author, at least) as the President gradually became far more disciplined in his statements and public actions, but the theory became a staple of the conservative case against Clinton, especially during the Lewinsky scandal.

Toni Morrison calls Clinton “first black president”

Future: fiscally responsible; lead world; weave diversity

Tonight I want to leave you with three thoughts about our future.
1. America must maintain our record of fiscal responsibility. If we choose wisely, we can pay down the debt, deal with the retirement of the baby- boomers, invest more in our future and provide tax relief.
2. Because the world is more connected every day in every way, America’s security and prosperity require us to continue to lead in the world. At this remarkable moment in history, more people live in freedom than ever before. Our alliances are stronger than ever. People all around the world look to America to be a force for peace and prosperity, freedom and security.
3. We must remember that America cannot lead in the world unless here at home we weave the threads of our coat of many colors into the fabric of one America. As we become ever more diverse, we must work harder to unite around our common values and our common humanity. We must work harder to overcome our differences in our hearts and in our laws.

Republicans won in 2000 by neutralizing issue of the economy

I spoke to several of the Clinton people about the Gore situation. They obviously felt the campaign could have gone better if Bill had been more involved. The Supreme Court judgment had basically been that a recount was unconstitutional so that was basically that. Gore was planning to concede 2am our time, then Bush would speak an hour later. Clinton was reasonably discreet but he clearly felt his legacy was at risk, that they lost by allowing the Republicans to neutralize the issue of the economy, by allowing their basic message to move leftwards, and by not using him properly. He was right on all 3 counts.

Worked several jobs to pay for law school

What’s right with America can fix what’s wrong with America

OpEd: Able to make anyone feel comfortable and at home

Even though we were born in the same town, we grew up in very different environments. The president has told the story of how he grew up with an abusive, alcoholic stepfather. I was fortunate to grow up without that sort of family tension.

Clinton went to college out of state, then on to England as a Rhodes Scholar. He had a secular educational environment. I went to Ouachita Baptist University.

Today the president and I have a cordial, genuinely engaging relationship. He is warm, hospitable, and encouraging to everyone around him. He can make anyone, regardless of who he or she is, feel comfortable and at home. He really enjoys being around people. I admire what he has been able to accomplish. Of course, this doesn't mean I celebrate the president's worldview.

OpEd: core activity combines counterculture and McGovern

$200 haircut scandal: accused of delaying airline flights

1955: attended church on his own accord at age 9

By the mid-1950s, the only religious education that Bill Clinton had received came from two years in a Catholic grade school, a subject on which virtually nothing has been written. But starting in 1955, the 9-year-old began to wear a suit on Sunday mornings and walk alone to Park Place Baptist Church. The pastor, Reverend Dexter Blevins, said the boy was there “every time the door opened.” The boy sensed, maybe from observing the behavior of the two immature adults in his small universe, that it was important that he go to church in order to “to try to be a good person.”

His mother agreed with her young son’s decision to find God, encouraging him to go every week, even though she and her husband made it only on Christmas and Easter.

The claim will shock his detractors today, but there were some who thought that the young Clinton would grow up to be a minister.

1974:Turned down dairy money because it had strings attached

The operative asked Bill, “Do you want to win or do you want to lose?” Hillary said, “If we can’t earn it, we can’t go.” And that was that. On election night, Bill’s opponent won by 6,000 votes.

1982 theme: “My daddy never had to whip me twice”

The 1982 campaign became the model for their political future, with Hillary assuming a far more direct, hands-on role in terms of policy, strategy, and staff. Hillary was never bashful about telling you when she thought you made a mistake. Bill Clinton would never tell you that, though he might think it. He was the good guy. Hillary was the one that laid the law down.

From mother Virginia came stamina & gregariousness

Virginia had been the big influence on Bill’s life. She had persevered through hard knocks, inculcated in him her optimism and drive. She had buried three husbands, two of whom had abused her. She had worked long hours and paid most of Bill’s tuition to Georgetown. “I got my stamina from my mother,” Bill said.

Clinton’s gregariousness, his fun-loving nature, his glad-handing, his hugging, his empathy, his ability to focus on whomever he was talking to, all those were traits he shared with his mother.

Hillary believed that Bill and Virginia shared great optimism, along with a tendency to repress unpleasant thoughts. He had nearly photographic recall, yet for decades had blocked out painful scenes involving his abusive stepfather.

Born in 1946 in Hope Arkansas to a widowed mother

My father met my mother at Tri- State Hospital in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1943, when she was training to be a nurse. Two months later, they were married and he was off to war. He served in a motor pool in the invasion of Italy, repairing jeeps and tanks. After the war, he returned to Hope for Mother and they moved to Chicago, where he got back his old job as a salesman for the Manbee Equipment Company.

On May 17, 1946, [my father died in a traffic accident] drowned, only twenty-eight years old, married two years and eight months, only seven months of which he had spent with Mother.

Father’s death in traffic accident drove Bill to achieve

When I was about 12, sitting on my uncle’s porch in Hope, a man walked up the steps, looked at me, & said, “You’re Bill Blythe’s son. You look just like him.“ I beamed for days.

My father left me with the feeling that I had to live for two people, and that if I did it well enough, somehow I could make up for the life he should have had. And his memory infused me, at a younger age than most, with a sense of my own mortality. The knowledge that I, too, could die young drove me both to try to drain the most out of every moment of life and to get on with the next big challenge. Even when I wasn’t sure where I was going, I was always in a hurry.

Discovered a half-brother in 1993

My father’s other son was identified as Leon Ritzenthaler, a retired owner of a janitorial service, from northern California. He said he had written me during the ‘92 campaign but had received no reply. I got in touch with him and later met him & his wife, Judy. We had a happy visit and since then we’ve corresponded in holiday seasons. He and I look alike, his birth certificate says his father was mine, and I wish I’d known about him a long time ago.

Somewhere around this time, I also received information about a daughter, born Sharon Lee Blythe in Kansas City in 1941, to a woman my father later divorced. I’m sorry to say that, for whatever reason, I’ve never met her.

Father's early death left me with sense of my own mortality

Father brought date to hospital where he met mother, a nurse

He met my mother at Tri-State Hospital in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1943, when she was training to be a nurse. He brought a date with some kind of medical emergency into the ward where she was working, and they flirted while the other woman was being treated. The next day he sent the other woman flowers and Mother's heart sank. Then he called Mother for a date, explaining that he always sent flowers when he ended a relationship. Two months later, they were married and he was off to war.

Knew his father only through stories from family

On May 17, 1946, my father was driving from Chicago to Hope to fetch his wife. Late at night on Highway 60 outside of Sikeston, Missouri, he lost control of his car when the right front tire blew out. He was thrown into a drainage ditch. The ditch held three feet of water. When he was found, after a two-hour search, his hand was grasping a branch above the waterline. He had tried but failed to pull himself out. He drowned, only 28 years old.

That brief sketch is about all I ever really knew about my father. All my life I have been hungry to fill in the blanks, clinging eagerly to every photo or story or scrap of paper that would tell me more of the man who gave me life.

Father had two children from three previous secret marriages

My father's other son was identified as Leon Ritzenthaler, a retired owner of a janitorial service, from northern California. I got in touch with him and later met him and his wife, Judy. Since then we've corresponded in holiday seasons. He and I look alike, his birth certificate says his father was mine, and I wish I'd known about him a long time ago.

Somewhere around this time, I also learned about Sharon Pettijohn, born Sharon Lee Blythe in Kansas City in 1941, to a woman my father later divorced. She sent copies of her birth certificate; her parents' marriage license; a photo of my father. I'm sorry to say that, for whatever reason, I've never met her.

OpEd: Virginia an unlikely, but American, presidential mom

Alcoholic dad may have defined Clinton’s personality

Half siblings Henry & Sharron, by two different mothers

In 1940, he met a dark-haired 17-year-old named Wanetta Alexander. By the end of 1940 Wanetta was pregnant, and Bill Blythe had gone to northern California, supposedly to see Adele and his first child.

But after a few days Bill had suddenly run off with Adele’s pretty younger sister, Minnie Faye. Bill and Minnie Faye Gash were married on December 29, 1940, in Durant, Oklahoma. That too, was soon over.

Under pressure from the Alexander family, his hasty marriage to Minnie Faye was annulled in Little Rock in April 1941. In less than a week, he married Wanetta. His new wife gave birth to a baby girl. They named her Sharron.

His father committed bigamy by marrying his mother

On April 13, 1944, a Missouri court granted the divorce [for Bill Blythe and Wanetta Alexander, whom he had married in April 1941. That means that on] September 3, 1943, Bill Blythe had committed bigamy by marrying Virginia Cassidy before a justice of the peace in Texarkana.

He joined the army and was sent abroad only five weeks after his marriage to Virginia. He was discharged as a technician, third grade, in December 1945 with a commendation for his service.

Virginia became pregnant [with Bill Clinton] almost immediately. Her conception came at the beginning of the great postwar baby boom. [Bill Blythe died in a car accident that May]

Clintons were millions in debt when leaving White House

(END TAPE) Q: Do you understand some people who have been critical of Secretary Clinton?

PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: It is factually true that we were several million dollars in debt. Everybody now assumes that what happened in the intervening years was automatic; I'm shocked that it's happened. I'm shocked that people still want me to come give talks. And I'm grateful.

Q: But when you say you pay ordinary taxes, as Secretary Clinton did, unlike other people who are really well off who pay taxes maybe just off capital gains, can you understand as a political matter that that could strike people as being out of touch?

BILL CLINTON: Yes, but she's not out of touch. And she advocated and worked as a senator for things that were good for ordinary people. And before that, all her life. And the people asking her questions should put this into some sort of context.

1986: Made mocking bumper stickers "For First Lady"

So Clinton answered: "Frank White would let the utility companies raise their rates at will. They are financing his campaign. Now White attacks Hillary Clinton for representing Arkansas in a lawsuit against the utilities. Says she took fees from tax money. But she didn't. She represented the state for free. Hey, Frank: If you want to attack Bill, attack Bill. But not his wife. After all, you're running for governor...not for first lady."

It worked: Clinton festooned the state with "Frank White for First Lady" bumper stickers, & White's campaign was cooked

Bill’s “let me think about it” meant “I’ll ask Hillary”

Hillary more important as presidential adviser than Al Gore

Bill Clinton: "Hillary."

With that simple one-word reply in December 1992, Bill Clinton adumbrated the complications that would bedevil his presidency. Bill was giving her primacy even above his Vice President, Al Gore, a formidable politician with far greater experience.

Bill and Hillary had been using the first-person plural since his initial run for governor in 1978, when Bill told The New York Times, "Our vote was a vindication of what my wife and I have done and what we hope to do for the state." They were such a "working unit" in Arkansas that they became known as "Billary"--a term of disparagement as well as admiration.

1992: This is not an arrangement; this is a marriage

The image of the couple side by side, along with Hillary's words, made a convincing performance. The Clintons left the impression that their problems were in the past--and if Hillary was unconcerned, voters shouldn't be bothered either.

Don’t eliminate Hillary over “dynasty”; vote on her merits

A: Sometimes. I think you asked her last time about how for 28 years...

Q: From 1980 to 2008 there will be a Bush or a Clinton on the national ticket. Two families, political dynasty.

A: She responded, “Well, I think Bill was a pretty good president,” which is a way of saying, “I’m not responsible for 20 of those 28 years.” To be fair, though, when we think of dynasties in historical circumstances, you get it because of who your family is, not because of what your merits are. I think the real question here is not whether she’s establishing a dynasty, but almost whether we should eliminate her because she happens to be my wife if she is otherwise the person who would be the best president. I think she’s the best suited, best qualified nonincumbent I’ve had a chance to vote for for president for this moment in time. So I don’t want to see her eliminated because [of concern over dynasty].

1986: Attacked for Hillary working at Rose while First Lady

These arguments resonated. In the eyes of the voters, the relationship became a non-issue. But previously undisclosed law firm records show that Hillary didn’t ask the firm to segregate her share of the state business until two months after White’s unsuccessful attack. Hillary eventually rectified the situation by repaying her share of past state fees “in any year Bill served as Governor,” which she calculated at $12,235.83.

Met Hillary in 1970: impressed with strength, not appearance

Bill followed Hillary, fully intending to introduce himself. When he came within two feet of her, a force larger than himself stopped him. “It was almost a physical reaction. Somehow I knew that this wasn’t another tap on the shoulder, that I might be starting something I couldn’t stop.”

Bill and Hillary met near the end of their first year. They were inseparable that first week. Over the weekend, Hillary went to see a man she had been dating. Bill spent the weekend fretting. When she returned, he called her but she was sick. Bill brought her soup, and with that, neither was interested in anyone else.

Start of “20-Year Project”:Hillary managed Bill’s House race

In a letter to Bill, Hillary laid out some of the details. One of Bill’s ex-girlfriends accidentally stumbled upon the letter. “The note talked about all their future plans. political plans. the letter had everything to do with their careers, there was no talk of a home, family, and marriage.” Having glimpsed the missive Crider was not surprised to see Hillary running Bill’s first campaign for Congress. Hillary did everything. She wrote Bill’s speeches. She even sold sandwiches to raise money.

OpEd: Marriage is a jet-set cosmopolitan arrangement

By now even Clinton true believers are curious about the dynamic of the fractious Clinton marriage. The marriage is a very cosmopolitan arrangement, more typical of European jet-set society than of America. It is a playboy marriage. True, at a certain practical level it is the marriage of convenience, allowing both Clintons to advance their political ambitions as they avail themselves of each other's uncommon political skills. Yet there is an emotional side, too, deeply fulfilling to both parties' idiosyncratic needs. Bill's waywardness gives Hillary ample opportunities to exercise Madame Hillary's indignant bossiness. And Madame Hillary's tireless watchfulness allows Bill exciting opportunities to sneak out on mother.

Gave up job with McGovern 1972 campaign to follow Hillary

Although Bill had worked in Arkansas on campaigns for Senator J. William Fulbright and others, and in Connecticut for Joe Duffey and Joe Lieberman, he’d never had the chance to be in on the ground floor of a presidential campaign.

I tried to let the news sink in. I was thrilled.

“Why,” I asked, “do you want to give up the opportunity to do something you love to follow me to California?”

“For someone I love, that’s why,” he said.

He had decided, he told me, that we were destined for each other, and he didn’t want to let me go just after he’d found me.

Loves Hillary but has caused pain in their marriage

The interviewer started with a series of questions about our relationship, adultery and divorce. We declined to answer such personal questions about our personal lives. But Bill acknowledged that he had caused pain in our marriage and said he would leave it to voters to decide whether that disqualified him from the Presidency.

Q: You seem to have reached some sort of an understanding or an arrangement.

Bill: Wait a minute. You’re looking at two people who love each other. This is not an arrangement or an understanding. This is a marriage. That’s a very different thing.

Hillary: I’m not sitting here, some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette. I’m sitting here because I love him and I respect him. If that’s not enough for people, then heck, don’t vote for him.

Nature of Clinton marriage was abiding mystery of presidency

There are several plausible reactions: One is "Oh, yuck." Another is "Oh, come on." The story conformed to the recollection of a great many people who knew the Clintons well. (And I accidentally witnessed the Clintons in a serious snuggle on a dark pathway after a campaign speech in Columbia SC, in 1992.)

The quality and texture, and the nature, of the Clinton marriage was the great abiding mystery of his presidency. Most of the speculation was vapid, tabloidy stuff.

Over time, I decided that the wisest course regarding the Clinton marriage was to be indiscriminately credulous, to believe ALL the stories. He was chronically unfaithful. They fought like harpies. They were political partners. They were best friends. They loved each other madly, in every sense. None of these were mutually exclusive.

OpEd: Appointing Hillary shows inappropriate boundaries

If Clinton had become dissatisfied with the action of the commission, would he have fired his wife? Did members of the health reform commission have complete freedom to express their opinions knowing that the chairperson shares a bed with the president? Even if these freedoms exist, such a decision reshapes the role of a nonelected spouse.

When the president was governor of Arkansas, Hillary Clinton also served as chairperson on an important committee reforming educational standards. Clinton's comment at the time was: "This guarantees that I will have a person who is closer to me than anyone else overseeing a project that is more important to me than anything else."

Wanted to marry Hillary to avoid electoral problems

Now it was Hillary who was reluctant to commit. In conversations with friends, she continued to gnaw at the same themes: Did she really want to commit herself to living in Arkansas? Could she be married to an elected official and still pursue her own interests?

Hillary’s coldness contributed to Bill’s infidelity

International support for Clinton during impeachment

The difference this time around, he added, is how democratic governments have responded. "Democratic countries around the world really dismissed the Clinton impeachment as a kind of a personal peccadillo turned into a self-righteous American democratic process run amok," he said. "This time, democratic countries see the future of American democracy at stake, and are worried about its viability, and therefore look at this as totally different than the Clinton case."

Christianity Today 1998: Clinton morally unable to lead

2019: We have done our best to give evangelical Trump supporters their due, to try to understand their point of view, to see the prudential nature of so many political decisions they have made regarding Mr. Trump. To use an old cliche, it's time to call a spade a spade, to say that no matter how many hands we win in this political poker game, we are playing with a stacked deck of gross immorality and ethical incompetence.

1998: Group of Democratic Senators asked Bill to resign

Still angry at Ken Starr for tawdry details

President Clinton did say he was “solely and completely responsible,” though that stand-up statement seemed to fall by the wayside as he tore into Starr.

Yes, Starr had reported some tawdry personal material. Yet, Bill Clinton, publicly and under oath, had denied the relationship with Lewinsky. Starr had a legal and ethical duty to find and report the details. To this day, Bill Clinton remains angry at Starr.

1996: faith community most scandalized by Easter liaison

The incident has hardly been forgotten, especially among observant Christians. Detractors and skeptics of Bill’s faith never cease to bring it up, always eager to denounce Bill as a hypocrite.

“What the meaning of is, is” became symbol of hairsplitting

The prosecutor pointed to a passage in the Jones deposition when his lawyer had assured everyone that there is no sex of any kind in any manner, shape, or form between the president & Lewinsky. The prosecutor asked the president whether he agreed that this “was an utterly false statement.”

With a wan smile, the president said, “It depends on what the meaning of ‘is’... is. If ‘is’ means is, and never has been, that is one thing. If it means, there is none, that was a completely true statement.” The quotation came to symbolize Bill’s hairsplitting obfuscation, and infuriated the prosecutors.

Expanding Whitewater to Lewinsky was a perjury trap

The deposition amounted to nothing less than an elaborate perjury trap designed to catch the president in an under-oath lie. The trap by Jones’s lawyers was intended to harm Bill politically and possibly drive him from the presidency.

Kenneth Starr sought permission to extend the Whitewater inquiry into Tripp’s allegations. The thinking was that the president’s alleged attempt to “buy” Lewinsky’s silence through a job in NY was tantamount to the same sort of obstruction of justice. By virtue of the wording of the independent-counsel statute, he was within his rights to follow nearly any lead. It was not surprising that Attorney General Janet Reno granted Starr’s request to investigate it.

Monica affair was “inappropriate” but not sex in legal terms

Clinton read from a prepared statement in which he admitted ”inappropriate intimate contact“ with Lewinsky, which ”did not consist of sexual intercourse,“ and did not ”constitute sexual relations“ as defined in a long list of terms he had read at his deposition. He said, ”I’ll bet the jurors, if they were talking about a sexual relationship, they meant they were sleeping together; they meant they were having intercourse“--not oral sex.

$52M Whitewater investigation began on real estate; not sex

It was a reasonable issue to explore in a presidential campaign: the governor of a state who had regulatory authority over a savings-and-loan was in business with the owner of an S&L, jointly owning a piece of land. But in retrospect, it’s shocking how much was made out of that mistake.

After 6 years of investigation, $52 million, and a Senate trial, the special prosecutor was forced to acknowledge that there had been no violation of law by either Hillary or Bill surrounding the land transaction. The allegation that stuck was that Bill Clinton lied about sex.

Monica & impeachment propelled him to highest approval

A week after her appearance on the show, a poll showed that 59% believed that “Clinton’s political enemies are conspiring to bring down his presidency.” Bill had achieved the highest approval ratings of his presidency--67% of Americans approved of his performance.

The impeachment locomotive was gathering steam. Hyde would have doubts about the wisdom of continuing down the impeachment track, especially because Bill’s popularity remained high, but Gingrich had no hesitancy.

1994 Lincoln Bedroom Memo: "start overnights right away"

"Well, unfortunately for you, Terry, the President turned the memo over and wrote a note on the back saying, "Ready to start overnights right away,'" she said. Thus the famous Lincoln Bedroom Memo.

"Okay, but it doesn't have anything to do with me," I said. "He didn't write that note to me. I didn't even get a copy of the memo back."

"Terry, I know you didn't get it back," she said. "I'm just letting you know this is going to be news." An AP reporter was about to move a story saying that I wrote a memo to the President recommending that he use the Lincoln Bedroom for fund raising. I have never written the words 'Lincoln Bedroom' in my life.

Asks forgiveness from Monica and her family

Cites John 8:7 as defense against impeachment

OpEd: too unconcerned with money to care about Whitewater

Months passed, and there was still no firm commitment. "I've got a big decision to make," Clinton told Al From. "I've got to decide whether I'm going to ru for governor again. If I don't do it, I'm going to have to figure out some way to make $100,000 a year to support my family." Al From responded, "You stupid son-of-a-b*, I'll pay you $100,000 right now to be chairman of the DLC!"

Al From later recalled with a laugh. "That's why I never believed he was money-corrupt during the Whitewater business--the guy had no sense of his own worth." In time, Clinton chose to do both: He ran for reelection as governor and became chairman of the DLC (without pay).

OpEd: 1998 scandal: surplus of libido & deficit of integrity

These charges combined the President's most commonly assumed depravities: a surplus of libido and a deficit of integrity. The surplus had been expended upon an employee the approximate age of his daughter, and the deficit involved untruthfulness of a potentially criminal sort. Furthermore, there appeared to be solid evidence of Clinton's guilt.

1998: Lewinsky affair upset GOP & press more than the public

He would survive yet again--but he had damaged himself irrevocably. His behavior, during the affair and after, was both outrageous and pathetic. He had lawyered his way through an act of passion, redefining what "sex" was and what "is" is; but he would survive--but there would be no joy in watching him elude the posse this time. Just embarrassment and disgust.

OpEd: Bill’s infidelity was enabled by state troopers

Loses Supreme Court on sexual harassment lawsuit

Accepted 5-year law license suspension in Paula Jones case

Clinton disbarred from Supreme Court

The justices’ action followed Clinton’s acceptance earlier this year of a five-year suspension of his law license in Arkansas and his payment of a $25,000 fine to the Arkansas Bar Association [stemming from a sexual-harassment suit filed in 1994 by Paula Corbin Jones].

The high court’s rules call for it to suspend a lawyer who has been disbarred or suspended by a lower court from practicing before the United States Supreme Court. The rules also give the lawyer 40 days to respond to final disbarment from the high court. No further punishment is involved but, since it is an honor for a lawyer to be admitted to practice before the high court, losing that privilege could be seen as an embarrassment, especially for a former president.

Acknowledges wrongdoing; pays fine; seeks closure

I have accepted a five-year suspension of my law license, agreed to pay a $25,000 fine to cover counsel fees, and acknowledged a violation of one of the Arkansas model rules of professional conduct because of testimony in my Paula Jones case deposition. The disbarment suit will now be dismissed.

In this consent order, I acknowledge having knowingly violated Judge Wright’s discovery orders in my deposition in that case. I tried to walk a fine line between acting lawfully and testifying falsely, but I now recognize that I did not fully accomplish this goal and that certain of my responses to questions about Ms. Lewinsky were false.

I have apologized for my conduct and I have done my best to atone for it with my family, my administration and the American people. I hope my actions today will help bring closure and finality to the matters.

OpEd: Monica opened discussion of Clinton's compulsions

Media attention was long overdue, though it is tempting to retort, "Where were you when The Dysfunctional President was initially released? However, what is truly important is that the impact of the president's psychology and sexual compulsion can now be subject to reasoned discussion.

Tendency to lie results from being adult child of alcoholic

It is important to stress that a significant difference exists between Reagan and Clinton. Reagan did not repeatedly demonstrate the effects of his background as an ACOA. Clinton, on the other hand, did.

The discrepancies in Clinton's statements are the clearest examples of such behavior. Clinton frequently exhibits the process of denial and automatic lying. Following Clinton's election, the lies have become legendary. As a nation we are experiencing the replay of the dysfunction inherent in Pres. Clinton's childhood.

Betsy Wright: Bill had female ‘fan base’ nationwide

The Star paid Gennifer Flowers for affair story

In the story, Flowers claimed she had begun to see Clinton in 1977 and continued an affair with him even after she had moved to Dallas in the early 1980s. She had told friends then about special visits from a ‘Bill’ from Arkansas.

Evidence disappeared in Whitewater scandal

No evidence of wrongdoing ever emerged. Federal regulators finally took the savings and loan away from McDougal, and a federal grand jury charged him with fraud.

1995: Budget impasse caused federal shutdown & MonicaGate

She told Clinton she had a crush on him. He laughed. Would you like to see my private office? Clinton asked? She nodded. Clinton took her through his private dining room toward his study. They kissed passionately. Before leaving, she wrote on a piece of paper her phone number & her name: "Monica Lewinsky."

He told Lewinsky he liked her smile and her energy. "I'm usually around on weekends, no one else is around, and you can come and see me," he told her. Lewinsky was on cloud nine, but she was worried that perhaps Clinton's regular girlfriend was furloughed and would be back as soon as the government shutdown ended.

Arkansas trooper declined to cover up for Governor Clinton

No, Bennett believed, he had smoked out the real liability on the list--Marilyn Jo Jenkins, a beautiful marketing executive whom Clinton had known for more than a decade.

Danny Ferguson, the Arkansas trooper who was Clinton's codefendant in the Jones case, had sworn under oath that he had brought Jenkins four times for private basement office visits with Clinton at the Governor's Mansion. Ferguson had brought gifts to Jenkins from Clinton.

Bennett had learned from another lawyer that Clinton had asked Ferguson to cover for him; the trooper had declined. "It's tough to be in love with two different women," Ferguson quoted Clinton as saying.

There IS no relationship with Monica, and WAS none

It seemed that Clinton was leaning heavily, even exclusively, on the present tense "is." Reporters accustomed to parsing Clinton's language would seize on it. "Look," an aide said, "you used the present tense, were you meaning to communicate anything?"

"Oh, no, no, no, no," the president said.

"WAS it in any way sexual?" another aide asked, leaning hard on the 'was.'

"The relationship WAS not sexual," the president replied.

Grounds for impeachment: lying & obstructing justice

The Office of the Independent Counsel hereby submits substantial and credible information that President Clinton committed acts that may constitute grounds for an impeachment. The information reveals that President Clinton:
• lied under oath at a civil deposition while he was a defendant in a sexual harassment lawsuit, jones v. Clinton;
• lied under oath to a grand jury about his sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky;
• attempted to influence the testimony of a potential witness;
• lied to potential grand jury witnesses, knowing that they would repeat those lies before the grand jury; and
• engaged in a pattern of conduct regarding his relationship with Monica Lewinsky that was inconsistent with his constitutional duty to faithfully execute the law.

OpEd: Respond to MonicaGate by emphasizing big picture

• Jan. 23: Clinton's problems were getting worse. The problem was not his affairs, so much as the charge he asked Monica Lewinsky to lie.
• Jan. 26: Clinton, Hillary and Gore did a press event on childcare, at the end of which Bill said he did not have an affair with Lewinsky.
• Feb. 2: [British Prime Minister Tony Blair] had been worrying how best to express support for Clinton but in the end it was fairly easy. It was all about emphasizing the big picture, the importance of the transatlantic relationship, the leadership Clinton had given to the centre left.
• Feb. 5: The news came in that Lewinsky was to get immunity. Clinton, Blair and I started talking about how we would deal with it all at the full press conference. Clinton was steamed up about some of the commentators, going on about THEIR private lives. I said he was crazy to engage on the detail. He is so much bigger than them. Keep going on the big picture. He said there has to be a change in the way the media operates.

1987: Delayed presidential run to get their house in order

But the talk was of something less noble. Senator Gary Hart had seen his political career derailed when he was caught in an affair with a young woman. The rumors about Bill had been rampant for years--he was a man with an appetite; he couldn't pass up a pretty face. I had other friends like the Bill Clinton of those rumors--except their lived

OpEd: Whitewater? No; Clinton distrusted Jim Guy Tucker

1992: Left AR financial mess for successor to clean up

When Clinton became president, Tucker was thrust into the governor's office; but even before that, during the 1992 presidential campaign, Tucker was the de facto governor because Clinton was never there. Clinton was not terribly interested in staying governor after 1990. He was running for president the whole time.

What really bothered Tucker was that Clinton would hand unfinished business to him but never give him the inside information he needed to handle it well. It was a tough time. Increasingly as Clinton got into the presidential campaign, Tucker had more day-to-day impact on managing the government.

When Clinton moved to the White House after the 1992 election, Tucker was furious with him. Clinton left the state in a financial mess, which Tucker had to clean up.

Tears when grandchild born; carries her around home

In many ways, taking care of a baby has gotten a lot more complicated since we did it more than three decades ago. But some things never change. As I watch Bill carry Charlotte around our house, stopping at nearly every book on the shelf to explain the plot and how much she will enjoy reading it one day, I can't help but remember how he used to walk Chelsea around the Arkansas Governor's Mansion, singing and rocking until she fell asleep.

AdWatch 1992: successful intro ad as poor small-town boy

In contrast, John Kerry's ad began with his narration of his biography: he was born on an army base and always felt the call for military service, especially since he had had the privilege of going to Yale.

Westen deemed Clinton's ad as clearly superior: "Clinton told his own life story, but he told it as a parable of what anyone can accomplish if just given the chance. He tied the theme of hope to the well established theme of the American dream, presenting himself as someone no different from anyone else who grew up on Main Street in any town."

In contrast, Westen judged the Kerry piece to be a disaster: "It conveyed one primary message: This guy isn't like me."

OpEd: America elected Clinton knowing his personal history

Unethical behavior sometimes comes out of the blue. But in the case of Bill Clinton, for example, Americans already knew a lot about his...er...unusual personal history during his first presidential campaign--and we elected him anyway.

Clinton Standard Time: late to most appointments

Clinton mystique: generates excitement & also generates cash

Hillary's appeal, by contrast, is almost metaphysical. She represents the transcendent dreams of the feminist, the gay rights advocates, the eco-activist. But she also connects with the murky dreams of millions of suburban women who quietly enter the ballot booth and assert their independence from their family's party affiliation. But there are other levers, the most important of which is the lever releasing the quantities of money.

OpEd: Denied problem of father's alcoholism

Reagan did not repeatedly demonstrate the effects of his background as an ACOA. Clinton, on the other hand, did.

The discrepancies in Clinton's statements are the clearest examples of such behavior. Clinton frequently exhibits the process of denial and automatic lying.

OpEd: Clinton's love goes hand-in-hand with abuse

A defining moment in Morris's understanding of Clinton's personality dated back to the 1990 governor's race. Clinton felt Morris was neglecting him and his campaign. "You're screwing me!" Clinton shouted at Morris. Morris stormed out.

Hillary then walked Morris around the grounds and apologized on her husband's behalf. She made three points--forgive him, he didn't mean it and he needs you. She offered Morris a telling explanation for Clinton's behavior. "He only does that to people he loves," she said. In other words, the love went hand in hand with the abuse. You buy in for one, you get the other. Morris was not sure whether abuse was a form of love or how they fit together, but taking the abuse was certainly the price of admission to Clinton's inner circle.

OpEd: Rise to power epitomizes the American dream

Young Bill Clinton was poor and disadvantaged; but from the time he was young, he was focused like a laser on becoming president of the US. It's what he wanted; it's what he worked for and sacrificed for, and through the years he managed to remove all the barriers to his goal. While there are 260 million Americans who can say whatever they want about him, he'll sleep in the White House tonight and the rest of us won't. In that way, Bill Clinton's rise to success epitomizes the American dream.

Attended Yale on a law school scholarship

Like Hillary, he had clearly not come to law school to prepare for a career on Wall Street. Politics was his destiny. During his first three months of law school, he worked full-time on a political campaign, only starting to study for his classes after the November election. He then amazed his worried friends by acing all his finals.

I should be the favorite of the Tea Party!

A: I thought I should've been their favorite politician. I think because I didn't do it according to the ideology. I raised taxes and cut spending. I did it with a mix of policies that also left us money to invest in our future and in our quality of life.

Don't go to sleep with an unanswered negative out there

Bill Clinton's political career thrived because he lived by one rule: "Don't go to sleep with an unanswered negative out there. Always, always answer!" Clinton's ability to parry negatives--right down to surviving a presidential impeachment--was largely due to his speed in answering attacks and his inventiveness in discrediting his attackers. It's like the old political saying: Deny the allegation--and then shoot the alligator!

The key to answering an attack quickly & effectively is to anticipate the attack before it's made. It takes time to dig up the kinds of old records that can disprove an attack. So all candidates must do their own negative research--not just on their opponents, but on themselves

OpEd: Triangulation worked but set up defeat in 2000

Self-styled ‘New Democrat’ to separate himself from liberals

OpEd: Savors the sheer joy of the political game

Politics may seem an odd foundation for a marriage, but for the Clintons it has served as the defining factor not only of their careers but also of their friendships, their dinner-table conversations, their intellectual interests, and, to outsiders at least, their emotional lives. There is no doubt about their shared commitment to public affairs and the Democratic party--and, ultimately, to the pursuit of political power.

We define ourselves by allegiance to American values

Arthur Schlesinger is among the most articulate champions of the idea of America as a nation united by a shared belief in the ideas found in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Gettysburg Address: The American Creed.

In his first inaugural, George W. Bush endorsed the creedal nation concept: "American has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests, and teach us what it means to be citizens."

You can't win talking just to people who agree with you

When Bill Clinton got in trouble, I did my best to defend him. I thought the Republicans were going way too far, but mostly because in Boston that's what's known as loyalty. When a friend is in the right, it isn't a matter of loyalty to support him. That's easy. It's when somebody screws up that they need their friends. That's when loyalty kicks in.

Developed the New Democrat Philosophy for 1992 campaign

1. Change may be the only constant in today’s American economy
2. [Human capital] is probably more important than physical capital now.
3. A more constructive partnership between business and government is far more important than the dominance of either.
4. As we try to solve problems which arise out of the internationalization of American life and the changes in our own population, cooperation in every area is far more important than conflict. We have to share responsibilities and opportunities--we’re going up or down together.
5. Waste is going to be punished [especially corporate debt].
6. A strong America requires a resurgent sense of community.

Regained popularity via "triangulation" with GOP Congress

DLC echoed in U.K. by Tony Blair's "Third Way"

Whether you call it New Democrats, New Labour, the Third Way or the Vital Center, Tony Blair and Bill Clinton clearly shared a political vision. But the question confronting each of them was how to invigorate a progressive movement that had lost steam through much of the 1970s and 1980s, giving rise to Reaganism in the US and Thatcherism in Britain.

Shocked by the margin of their party's losses in 1964, several Republican multimillionaires embarked on a strategy to seed conservative, even right-wing political philosophy, and to develop and advance specific policies to further it. They funded think tanks, endowed professorships and seminars and developed media channels for communicating ideas and opinions.

Recruited in 1989 as chair of Democratic Leadership Council

Al From believed that the only way to reinvigorate the Democratic Party was to reinvent liberalism; he was very much in the market for new ideas and new leaders. In 1989, the Democratic Leadership Council launched a small think tank called the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI). This turned out to be Al From's second most important initiative that year: The first was to recruit Bill Clinton to become the chairman of the DLC.

Third Way Principles: opportunity, responsibility, community

There was no applause The words were too abstract; there was nothing stirring or controversial about them. The Third Way--which challenged both liberal and conservative orthodoxies--could sound like Everyone's Way when massaged into platitudes by a decent speechwriter.

New Democrat from the New South

1986 initiative: Good beginnings, Good schools, & Good jobs

Character isn't the issue

Character is the issue, and your character makes a difference every day--in the work you do, the people you vote for, the people you look to for leadership.

OpEd: Good on big picture, and backed up with details

America stands today between hope and history

I believe that America today stands between hope and history-at the edge of a moment when these two powerful forces are as one, when we can embrace the dawn of the new century, drawing strength and guidance from our past, filled with confidence that in this new age of possibility, our best is yet to come.

OpEd: At his best when winning support to manage change

New Covenant: responsibility, citizenship, opportunity

We need to forge a New Covenant that will repair the damaged bond between the people and the government and restore our basic values-the notion that our country has a responsibility to help people get ahead. That citizens have not only the right but a responsibility to rise as far and as high as their talents and determination can take them, and that we’re all in this together.

Make no mistake: This New Covenant means change-change in our party, change in our national leadership, and change in our country. People have lost faith in the ability of government to change their lives for the better.

New Covenant: Opportunity and responsibility go hand in hand

I call it the New Covenant. But it's grounded in a very old idea, that all Americans have not just a right but a solemn responsibility to rise as far as their God-given talents and determination can take them and to give something back in return. Opportunity and responsibility: They go hand in hand. We can't have one without the other. And our national community can't hold together without both.

Our New Covenant is a new set of understandings for how we can equip our people to meet the challenges of a new economy, how we can change the way our Government works to fit a different time, and, above all, how we can repair the damaged bonds in our society and come together behind our common purpose. We must have dramatic change in our economy, our Government, and ourselves.

Hope and opportunity: broad themes for presidency

Clinton turned to some of the broad themes for his presidency. He spoke of hope and opportunity, and the difference between them: Opportunity, he said, was an objective reality. Hope was the faith that things could be better. FDR created hope long before he created opportunity. Clinton talked about "making change our friend." He reminded everyone that things were worse than he had thought before taking office, that the American people had been misled, and that the economic situation had deteriorated. He wanted to keep faith with the middle class. "It's scary to be a little person," he said someone had told him in the line at the White House. But more important, he said, "the eyes of our children are upon us." If we do our jobs, and reform health care, he said, "We'll return to office."

1991: Led "New Democrats" who rejected liberal orthodoxy

Though not well known on the national stage, Clinton was a leader in a movement of self-styled "New Democrats" who rejected the party's liberal orthodoxy. Mostly Southerners, they were trying to convince the middle class that the Democratic Party could be strong on foreign and defense policy, moderate in social policy, and disciplined in spending tax money and taming runaway government. While retaining the ideals of the New Deal and the Great Society, New Democrats sought more efficient activism. Clinton had been traveling the country saying that these ideals were neither liberal nor conservative, but both, and different. He cast his ideas in the loftiest terms.

Time for a change from the last 12 years

CLINTON: The most important distinction in this campaign is that I represent real hope for change: a departure from trickle-down economics, a departure from tax-and-spend economics, to invest and grow. But before I can do that I must challenge the American people to change, and they must decide. Tonight I say to the President: Mr. Bush, for 12 years you've had it your way. You've had your chance, and it didn't work. It's time to change. I want to bring that change to the American people, but we must all decide first we have the courage to change for hope and a better tomorrow.

BUSH: I think one thing that distinguishes is experience. Change for change's sake isn't enough. We saw that message in the late seventies when we heard a lot about change. And what happened? That "misery index" went right through the roof.

Greatest legacy: set standard for connecting with electorate

Why Harlem? "We won't let anything happen to that man"

Clinton's office is in Harlem, where a woman on the street told the agent, "Honey, you can take the day off. We're not going to let anything happen to that man."

Opens post-Presidential office in Harlem

Should Mr. Clinton eventually settle on office space in Harlem, it would settle the storm of criticism that has followed him since he first planned to move into the 56th floor of [a midtown office tower]. The lease for that space was estimated from $738,700 to $811,000 a year. The asking annual rent for the 14th floor in Harlem would be $210,000

Turns over reins of leadership with America at its strongest

• Our economy is breaking records with more than 22 million new jobs, the lowest unemployment in 30 years, the highest home ownership ever, the longest expansion in history.
• Our families and communities are stronger. 35 million Americans have used the family leave law, 8 million have moved off welfare, crime is at a 25-year low.
• More people than ever are going to college. Our schools are better: higher standards, greater accountability and larger investments have brought higher test scores and higher graduation rates.
• More than 3 million children have health insurance now and more than 7 million Americans have been lifted out of poverty.
• Our air and water are cleaner, our food and drinking water are safer and more of our precious land has been preserved.
• America has been a force for peace and prosperity in every corner of the globe.

OpEd: Won with public focus on domestic over foreign issues

1990: opponent's ad repeated Bill stating "raise and spend"

Clinton's reply: "Here's what I actually said to the legislature. 'Unlike our friends in Washington, we can't write a check on an account that is overdrawn. Either we raise and spend or we don't spend.' All I was doing was fighting for a balanced budget. But Nelson went to work and cut out the words 'raise and spend' from my speech to give you the wrong impression." Clinton regained the lead and won.

See what Clinton did? He didn't deny that he'd raised taxes twice before. (He had.) He didn't say he wasn't going to raise them if he got reelected. (He did.) What he did was dismantle Nelson's gimmick, discrediting the attack--and the attacker!

GOP lost when they put faith voter out of way in '92 & '96

The energy of this group of voters made the difference for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984, and for George Bush in 1988. In 1992 and 1996, when the GOP somewhat put us back in the attic and out of the way, we lost. In 2000 and in 2004, the faith community was again activated, and I believe it provided the votes that put the GOP back in the White House.

1996: swept Latino vote 70% to 21%; among young, 91% to 6%

In 1996, Clinton swept the Latino vote 70 to 21. Among first-time Latino voters, his margin was 91 to 6. Aware that immigrants can give the Democrats their own lock on the White House, Clinton's men worked to naturalize them. In the year up to September 30, 1996, the Immigration and Naturalization Service swore in 1,045,000 new Americans so quickly that 80,000 with criminal records--6,300 for serious offenses--became citizens.

In every presidential election since 1984, Hispanics have voted Democratic by anywhere from 60% to 75%. The more Hispanic America becomes, the more Democratic America becomes.

Spend retirement giving; politics is a "getting" business

Founded “New Democrat” message in 1980 Convention speech

“We were brought up to believe, uncritically, without thinking about it, that our system broke down in the Great Depression, and was reconstructed in the New Deal and WWII, and would never break down again. But the hard truth is that for ten long years through Democratic and Republican administrations alike, this economic system has been breaking down. We have seen high inflation, high unemployment, large government deficits, the loss of our competitive edge.“

1987: Declined chance to run; some say due to affairs

Bill would later say of the decision, “Finally I felt as though the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders. I was free to be a father, husband, and governor and to work and speak on national issues unencumbered by immediate ambitions.”

1980: Became youngest ex-governor in US history

1996: Legislative alliance with GOP Senate Leader Trent Lott

What Morris proposed was a highly unusual alliance between the president of the US and the majority leader of the opposing party, with himself serving as clandestine intermediary. It may have been unique in the history of American politics.

Morris's plan was stunning in its audacity. He wanted me to forge a working relationship with Bill Clinton to enact a series of landmark bills. As Morris pointed out, both the Republican Senate Conference and Clinton would benefit from a series of legislative coups. Morris embraced my suggestions for major welfare reform, a balanced budget act, that would include Medicare cuts, and immigration reform.

Bush believes in his way, but history favors Clinton’s

Key to 1992 success was timing of entry into race

After deciding to launch Bill toward the presidency in 1991, Hillary made another shrewd decision in 1999. Hillary decided to run for the Senate, and not from Arkansas, but from New York, where big media and big money come together. 4 years later, Senator Hillary was surrounded by people telling her the same things she had once told Bill, things like , "The second Pres. Bush is another paper tiger." They reminded her that Gore beat Bush by 539,947 votes in the popular tally. Bush, they said, is suffering from jobless recovery syndrome and Iraqi fever. In short, "Hillary, go for it!"

OpEd: 1994 loss resulted in adoption of GOP rhetoric

But it is well to remember the limits of politics. The political nation is not the same as the cultural nation; the two have different leaders and very different views of the world. Even when conservative political leaders have the votes, liberal cultural leaders operate and exercise influence where votes do not count. Institutions that are overwhelmingly left-liberal (89% of journalists voted for Bill Clinton in 1992) will continue to misinform the public and distort public discourse.

OpEd: 1992 election represented moral & cultural sea change?

"The election of Clinton i nothing less than a cultural revolution. America of the Baby Boomers is a radically different place from the American of their parents. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that a large part of the American people have turned their backs on that old-fashioned quality: Virtue--private and public Virtue."

Thirty years ago, Clinton's behavior would have been absolutely disqualifying. Since the 1992 election, the public has learned far more about what is known, euphemistically, as the "character issue." Yet, none of this appears to affect Clinton's popularity. It is difficult not to conclude that something about our moral perceptions and reactions has changed profoundly. If that change is permanent, the implications for our future are bleak.

Nominated Dukakis at 1988 Convention; turned into fiasco

Worked for Joe Lieberman's Senate campaign in 1970s

When Bill was asked to respond to Lieberman's speech, he replied: "Basically I agree with what he said. I've already said that I made a bad mistake. It was indefensible, and I'm sorry about it. I'm very sorry about it."

It was the first of many unconditional public apologies my husband would make on his long journey of atonement. But I realized that apologies would never be enough for hardcore Republicans and might not be enough to avert a meltdown within the Democratic Party. Other Democratic leaders condemned the President's personal actions and said he should in some way be held accountable. None, however, advocated impeachment.

Employed Dick Morris for gubernatorial & presidential races

Morris's specialty was identifying the swing voters who seesawed between the two parties. His advice was sometimes off-the-wall; you had to sift through it to extract the useful insights and ideas. And he had the people skills of a porcupine. Nonetheless, I thought Morris's analysis might be instructive, if we could involve him carefully and quietly. With his skeptical views about politics and people, Morris served as a counterweight to the ever optimistic Bill Clinton. Where Bill saw a silver lining in every cloud, Morris saw thunderstorms.

Starting in 1978, Morris worked for Bill on all his gubernatorial campaigns except the one he lost in 1980.

1992 staff called him "The Natural" after Redford movie

1992: opponents failed to find disloyalty in Bill in Moscow

Republican aides rifled passport file in vain for some evidence of Clinton disloyalty while abroad. Trailing in October, George Bush himself tried almost pathetically to impute something subversively, unpatriotically sinister to Clinton’s 1969-70 trip to Moscow or his role in antiwar rallies demanding that Clinton tell voters “how many demonstrations he led against his own country from a foreign soil.” [Others claimed that Bill Clinton] was a full-fledged CIA “asset,” who informed on his American friends in the peace movement in Britain.

1987: Delayed presidential run to get their house in order

But the talk was of something less noble. Sen. Gary Hart had seen his political career derailed when he was caught in an affair with a young woman. The rumors about Bill had been rampant for years--he was a man with an appetite, people said.

I never asked Bill or Hillary about the truth of those rumors. I knew both of them too well to ask. Bill and I never once talked about the rumors until after he was elected President. Hillary never came to me and said, "Bill and I are having trouble."

But what I think was happening was that Bill & Hillary had decided that before a presidential run, they had to get their house in order--in whatever ways it needed ordering. Something she said later also seemed to shed light on Bill's decision not to run. One day, I overheard Hillary say, "We've got to straighten up Whitewater."

1991: Torn by promise not to run for president

1991: Urged by AR Sen. David Pryor to run for president

On the way home, Bill was upbeat, excited energized. Pryor's advice carried a lot of weight. They had talked following the service, and the senator had told Bill, "The ones who love you will be with you, anyway. The ones who are against you won't change their minds. Bush is vulnerable. This is the time."

OpEd: 1988 DNC speech fiasco was to not overshadow Dukakis

It was a wonderful opportunity, and his friends gathered around their television sets to watch him dazzle a national audience. What we saw was the potential derailment of a brilliant career. A speech that was supposed to last 15 minutes droned on for 32 minutes. Bill Clinton was finally booed off the stage.

I later heard from someone who was there that Dukakis's staff was worried about the nominee being overshadowed by Clinton. They had already been upstaged by Jesse Jackson, so they encouraged the length of the speech and the failure of the dim lights. I have no idea whether or not that's true.

Fortunately, Bill had media-savvy friends who advised him to head off the crisis by poking fun at himself in a very public venue: Johnny Carson's Tonight Show.

First Arkansan to run for President; set AR turnout record

1988: Stayed neutral on Al Gore vs. Mike Dukakis primary

Part of his “New Democrat” included religious Democrats

A moderate Democrat must, of course, be a religious Democrat. Bill Clinton noted during the campaign that he was such a Democrat. “I pray virtually every day, usually at night, and I read the Bible every week,” he said. He added that he believed strongly in “old- fashioned things” like the “constancy of sin, the possibility of forgiveness, the reality of redemption.” While these words might sound hollow from some candidates, from Clinton they were in line with his long-established beliefs and life experiences.

Familiar with Bible & has genuine faith, say his pastors

In an interview for this book, Wogaman confirmed that Bill, not Hillary, was the impetus. Wogaman confirms that Bill, in addition to his regular church attendance, was meeting once a week with personal spiritual counselors.

Even before the Lewinsky scandal, Campolo says he and Clinton “would get together about once every five or six weeks for a couple of hours.“

Wogaman said they discussed how important faith is in forming our lives. The minister said that through these experiences, he learned that Clinton’s faith was genuine, though Wogaman did carefully concede that ”you can never entirely read into the heart of a person.“

In his first session with the God Squad, Bill opened his Bible and read his favorite passage from Isaiah. Wogaman perceived that Clinton was ”very familiar with the Bible.

Learn from Creation what one must be

Supports Hyde Park Declaration of "Third Way" centrism.

As New Democrats, we believe in a Third Way that rejects the old left-right debate and affirms America’s basic bargain: opportunity for all, responsibility from all, and community of all.

We believe:
• that government’s proper role in the New Economy is to equip working Americans with new tools for economic success and security.
• in expanding trade and investment because we must be a party of economic progress, not economic reaction.
• that fiscal discipline is fundamental to sustained economic growth as well as responsible government.
• that a progressive tax system is the only fair way to pay for government.
• the Democratic Party’s mission is to expand opportunity, not government.
• that education must be America’s great equalizer, and we will not abandon our public schools or tolerate their failure.
• that all Americans must have access to health insurance.
• in preventing crime and punishing criminals.
• in a new social compact that requires and rewards work in exchange for public assistance and that ensures that no family with a full-time worker will live in poverty.
• that public policies should reinforce marriage, promote family, demand parental responsibility, and discourage out-of-wedlock births.
• in enhancing the role that civic entrepreneurs, voluntary groups, and religious institutions play in tackling America’s social ills.
• in strengthening environmental protection by giving communities the flexibility to tackle new challenges that cannot be solved with top-down mandates.
• government must combat discrimination on the basis of race, creed, gender, or sexual orientation; defend civil liberties; and stay out of our private lives.
• that abortion should be safe, legal, and rare.
• in progressive internationalism -- the bold exercise of US leadership to foster peace, prosperity, and democracy.
• that the US must maintain a strong, technologically superior defense to protect our interests and values. Source: The Hyde Park Declaration 00-DLC0 on Aug 1, 2000

  Member of Democratic Leadership Council.

  Clinton is the chair of the Democratic Leadership Council:

  Mission

  The DLC’s mission is to promote public debate within the Democratic Party and the public at large about national and international policy and political issues. Specifically, as the founding organization of the New Democrat movement, the DLC’s goal is to modernize the progressive tradition in American politics for the 21st Century by advancing a set of innovative ideas for governing through a national network of elected officials and community leaders.

  Who We Are

  The Democratic Leadership Council is an idea center, catalyst, and national voice for a reform movement that is reshaping American politics by moving it beyond the old left-right debate. The DLC seeks to define and galvanize popular support for a new public philosophy built on progressive ideals, mainstream values, and innovative, non bureaucratic, market-based solutions. At its heart are three principles: promoting opportunity for all; demanding responsibility from everyone; and fostering a new sense of community.

  Since its inception, the DLC has championed policies from spurring private sector economic growth, fiscal discipline and community policing to work based welfare reform, expanded international trade, and national service. Throughout the 90’s, innovative, New Democrat policies implemented by former DLC Chairman President Bill Clinton have helped produce the longest period of sustained economic growth in our history, the lowest unemployment in a generation, 22 million new jobs, cut the welfare rolls in half, reduced the crime rate for seven straight years, balanced the budget and streamlined the federal bureaucracy to its smallest size since the Kennedy administration.

  Now, the DLC is promoting new ideas -- such as a second generation of environmental protection and new economy and technology development strategies -- that is distinctly different from traditional liberalism and conservatism to build the next generation of America’s leaders.

  Source: Democratic Leadership Council web site 01-DLC0 on Nov 7, 2000

  New Democrat: "Third Way" instead of left-right debate.

  Clinton adopted Third Way principles of the Democratic Leadership Council:

  America and the world have changed dramatically in the closing decades of the 20th century. The industrial order of the 20th century is rapidly yielding to the networked “New Economy” of the 21st century. Our political and governing systems, however, have lagged behind the rest of society in adapting to these seismic shifts. They remain stuck in the left-right debates and the top-down bureaucracies of the industrial past.

  The Democratic Leadership Council, and its affiliated think tank the Progressive Policy Institute, have been catalysts for modernizing politics and government. The core principles and ideas of this “Third Way” movement [began with] Bill Clinton’s Presidential campaign in 1992, Tony Blair’s Labour Party in Britain in 1997, and Gerhard Shroeder’s Social Democrats in Germany in 1998.

  The Third Way philosophy seeks to adapt enduring progressive values to the new challenges of he information age. It rests on three cornerstones:
  1. the idea that government should promote equal opportunity for all while granting special privilege for none;
  2. an ethic of mutual responsibility that equally rejects the politics of entitlement and the politics of social abandonment;
  3. and, a new approach to governing that empowers citizens to act for themselves.
  The Third Way approach to economic opportunity and security stresses technological innovation, competitive enterprise, and education rather than top- down redistribution or laissez faire. On questions of values, it embraces “tolerant traditionalism,” honoring traditional moral and family values while resisting attempts to impose them on others. It favors an enabling rather than a bureaucratic government, expanding choices for citizens, using market means to achieve public ends and encouraging civic and community institutions to play a larger role in public life. The Third Way works to build inclusive, multiethnic societies based on common allegiance to democratic values. Source: Democratic Leadership Council web site 01-DLC1 on Nov 7, 2000

  Click here for definitions & background information on Principles & Values. Click here for a profile of Bill Clinton. Click here for Bill Clinton on all the issues. Click here for VoteMatch responses by Bill Clinton.
  Other candidates on Principles & Values:	Bill Clinton on other issues:
  2024 Republican Presidential Candidates: Former Pres.Donald Trump (R nominee) Ohio Senator J.D. Vance (VP nominee) Ryan Binkley (R-TX) Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND) Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) Larry Elder (R-CA;withdrew) Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) Rep. Will Hurd (R-FL;withdrew) Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) Perry Johnson (R-IL) Mayor Steve Laffey (R-RI) Former V.P.Mike Pence (R-IN;withdrew) Vivek Ramaswamy (R-OH) Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) Secy. Corey Stapleton (R-MT) Mayor Francis Suarez (R-FL;withdrew) 2024 Democratic and 3rd-party primary candidates: V.P.Kamala Harris (D nominee) MN Gov Tim Walz (VP nominee) Pres. Joe Biden (D-DE,retiring) Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (I-NY) Chase Oliver (L-GA) Rep.Dean Phillips (D-MN) Jill Stein (Green) Cornel West (Green Party) Kanye West (Birthday Party) Marianne Williamson (D-CA)	Abortion Budget/Economy Civil Rights Corporations Crime Drugs Education Energy/Oil Environment Families/Children Foreign Policy Free Trade Govt. Reform Gun Control Health Care Homeland Security Immigration Infrastructure/Technology Jobs Principles/Values Social Security Tax Reform War/Iraq/Mideast Welfare/Poverty External Links about Bill Clinton: Wikipedia Ballotpedia

  
  
  
  
  
  Page last updated: Aug 06, 2024; copyright 1999-2022 Jesse Gordon and OnTheIssues.org