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A mosaic of perspectives and insights on Bill Clinton and his performance as U.S. President.
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00:00Once again, our democracy has spoken, so let me begin by congratulating all of you here
00:11in the 104th Congress, and congratulating you, Mr. Speaker.
00:18Last week, Bill Clinton brought his tattered presidency before the new Republican Congress
00:23and tried to revive the promise of his election two years ago.
00:27I was determined then to tackle the tough problems too long ignored.
00:33In this effort, I am frank to say that I have made my mistakes,
00:37and I have learned again the importance of humility in all human endeavor.
00:43Tonight on Frontline, what happened to Bill Clinton?
00:46Another embarrassing defeat.
00:48First political hot potato.
00:49Was it whitewater or the media?
00:51Outrage.
00:51Problems just keep on coming.
00:53No win issue.
00:54Was he too liberal or too conservative?
00:56The administration has repeatedly bungled.
00:57Going deeper in a hole.
00:59Was it Hillary or was it Rush Limbaugh?
01:01One of President Clinton's worst nightmares.
01:03It would be the downfall of his administration.
01:05Huge Republican win.
01:06Or was it something else?
01:07Mr. President, during the campaign...
01:09Tonight, seven of the country's sharpest political thinkers ask,
01:13what happened to Bill Clinton?
01:15Funding for Frontline is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
01:26and by annual financial support from viewers like you.
01:34This is Frontline.
01:37Frontline.
01:37Frontline.
01:39Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States.
02:00On the day after the Democrats' historic defeat in the November elections,
02:05President Clinton would try to explain to the nation what he thought the voters had said.
02:10Good afternoon.
02:13I think they were saying two things to me.
02:19Or maybe three.
02:20They were saying...
02:22Let me say...
02:23Maybe 300.
02:23Maybe 300.
02:27Well, I think that I have some responsibility for it.
02:31I'm the President.
02:32I'm the leader of the efforts that we have made in the last two years.
02:40There was a sense that he himself was among those trying to understand what had happened.
02:45Well, I think the most interesting thing about the Clinton phenomenon
02:49is that people are very puzzled by him, and they're very baffled by him.
02:54Elizabeth Drew has long reported from inside Washington.
02:57In her book, On the Edge, she traces what has gone wrong and right with Clinton's presidency.
03:03How did a guy with all of that potential...
03:06He is very smart.
03:08He has real political skills.
03:10He started with a large amount of public goodwill behind him.
03:15He was expected to do all sorts of things.
03:17How did he go from there to the political problems that he has been in?
03:23His predicament is linked to his promise.
03:27The larger promise, the idea, whatever hopes people pinned onto Bill Clinton,
03:32is the reason for why they are disappointed in him now.
03:35As correspondent for the New York Times,
03:37Gwen Ifill covered Bill Clinton from the early, lonely days of the campaign
03:42straight through to the White House.
03:43Perhaps it was unrealistic to think that any one single human being could come in,
03:49sweep, take the place by storm, and suddenly transform Washington,
03:52and more importantly, Americans' views of themselves.
04:00Two years ago, in a three-man race against George Bush and Ross Perot,
04:05Bill Clinton had cobbled together 43% of the vote, just enough to win.
04:09I need you to cheer and to cheer continuously.
04:12We can see your eyes reading the cards with you, but we don't need that.
04:16You just need to be cheering and happy that Bill Clinton is being elected, okay?
04:21Can you do that?
04:22The winning strategy had been a straddle.
04:24The good news continues before in the straddle.
04:27He would move right on social issues like welfare and crime,
04:32but push an activist economic plan aimed at jobs and wages.
04:36Let us all join together in welcoming the next president of the New York State of America,
04:45Mr. Bill Clinton.
04:48This Democratic president would be neither liberal nor conservative, but new.
04:54My fellow Americans,
04:58you can trust us to wake up every day remembering the people we saw in the bus trips,
05:09the people we saw in the town meetings, the people we touched at the rallies,
05:13the people who had never voted before, the people who hadn't voted in 20 years,
05:16the people who'd never voted for a Democrat, the people who had given up hope.
05:20All of them together are saying, we want our future back, and I intend to help give it to you.
05:28I mean, I think what happened, it happened to me certainly,
05:32and I'm sure it happened across the country, to people who were sympathetic to him.
05:37You hear him give these great speeches, you see him at a town meeting on television,
05:41and maybe even tearing up over something he really feels strongly about.
05:47And that excites you or builds your hope for the guy and his presidency.
05:55And then it's disappointed.
05:57William Greider has long asked the larger questions most Washington reporters don't.
06:03His last book decried the betrayal of America's democracy.
06:06After that's happened to you two, three, four, five times, you develop the opposite sense.
06:14Which is, this is wonderful, I like what he says, but can I believe it?
06:19And that's obviously a very poisonous thing to happen to a politician.
06:22And I think, notwithstanding the right-wing talk shows and all of the other flack that he's gotten,
06:29much of which was indeed unfair, he mostly did this to himself.
06:34The 100,000-watt blowtorch of free speech.
06:39Let me just tell you how I really feel.
06:40Bill Clinton is a liar, a faker, an imposter.
06:44This man has absolutely no convictions, no principles.
06:48No sinner, he could care less about the American people.
06:50Anger echoes across the country on radio call-in shows, much of it aimed at Bill Clinton.
06:56He was yellow 25 years ago, and he is a bright shade of urine maze tonight.
07:04Lee Harvey Oswald, where are you?
07:06I don't know how else to say it.
07:07But in a moment when fewer and fewer voters feel binding loyalty to any political party,
07:13it is an anger that goes deeper.
07:15The heart of American anger and anxiety is about economics.
07:20And it's not about people getting rich or even people becoming poor.
07:24It's about sort of that broad middle-class sense of loss,
07:29slowly losing their place in the food chain on standard of living, wages,
07:35and also a long-term anxiety not just for themselves but for their children.
07:40In the last five or ten years, you've seen Americans really start to doubt that the American dream is still there.
07:46They worry that it's getting away, that other countries are stealing a march on us that we're not what we used to be.
07:51Kevin Phillips has often predicted major changes in American party politics.
07:55His latest book chronicles the decay of the political system, beginning with Washington.
08:01As people have had all these feelings, 30 years of growing disenchantment,
08:06what happens? Washington grows and grows and grows, gets cockier and cockier and cockier.
08:13Every major piece of legislation is a Lawyers and Accountants Full Employment Act of 1989 or 92.
08:20And they say, hey, not only do these people fail us, but the more they fail, the fatter they get,
08:26and the cockier they get, and they're both part of it.
08:29And I think that's why people are sitting out there in such disgust,
08:33and some of it's angry, mobilizing, disgust, and some of it's passive,
08:37why don't I just forget about it, disgust.
08:39But both of those things are there.
08:47In 1992, the American people elected a man who had campaigned as an outsider.
08:53They expected change.
08:54What has happened to Bill Clinton since is not about draft dodging or whitewater,
09:00but the political choices he made from the beginning.
09:05He had promised to challenge the money politics of Washington,
09:08to reform how the Congress itself does business.
09:12But within days of his election,
09:15the Democratic barons would travel from Washington to Little Rock
09:18to argue their view of what was possible.
09:20The congressional leaders came down,
09:25Foley and Gephardt and Mitchell,
09:27to have dinner with the Clintons in Little Rock.
09:31And one of the points that particularly the House members made
09:35was, look, if you want to get a lot of legislation from the Congress,
09:40don't push us on the reform questions,
09:43campaign finance reform and some of the other reforms,
09:46the line item veto.
09:47And in effect, Clinton bought it.
09:50I don't want the continuation of the Cold War
09:54between the Congress and the White House.
09:56Pennsylvania Avenue is a little on both ways again.
10:00We're very much aware that the American people in the last election,
10:05without regard to their voter presence...
10:07I did have some hope for him.
10:10And I found it difficult to believe
10:12that somebody who'd run so strongly against Washington
10:15and who knew how much he owed to the provost
10:17could come in and as blithely disregard these circumstances
10:21and hobnob with the power structure
10:24and have no qualms
10:25and just seem to talk as if he could say the same things.
10:29And he didn't seem to understand that he wasn't doing them.
10:32I've been very surprised by
10:35what I sort of perceive in his person,
10:38this ability to believe himself
10:40when Americans don't believe him.
10:42You have the old hands in Washington saying,
10:46look, don't worry about a reform agenda.
10:49We're all in this together.
10:51We are a majority in the Senate, in the House,
10:54and we can deliver the votes for your program.
10:58Bob Woodward defined modern White House reporting.
11:02He spent 18 months behind the scenes in the Clinton White House.
11:05There is a simple reality
11:08that campaign finance reform
11:11and any kind of meaningful reform agenda
11:14goes over with the odor of a case of dead skunks
11:22in the Congress.
11:24It just is not anything they want
11:28or are willing to deal with
11:30because this is how they get elected.
11:32This is the system.
11:33Now, in a way, Clinton ran against it.
11:37I think he didn't know enough about it
11:39in order to reform it.
11:43He was not a reformer in Arkansas
11:46in a more profound sense.
11:48He always played by the traditional rules.
11:51David Marinus won the Pulitzer Prize
11:53for his 1992 writing on Bill Clinton.
11:56In the two years since,
11:57he has interviewed more than 400 people
11:59crafting a biography of the politician he calls
12:02first in his class.
12:04He, from a very early stage of his governorship,
12:09started cozying up to the business establishment in Arkansas.
12:15Occasionally he would challenge them,
12:16always in modest ways.
12:18But the difference here was that
12:21the leaders of Congress
12:24had a lot more power than any leaders in Arkansas.
12:26And he quickly deals with power centers
12:31and accommodates them.
12:33That's the way he works.
12:34The question of whether Clinton, as president,
12:39would play the role of the outsider
12:41who would force Washington to change
12:43was a question of whether he would be willing
12:46to stand alone.
12:48Here's a guy who wanted to be president
12:51since he was a young boy,
12:52who became president when he was only 46 years old,
12:56who was elected governor of Arkansas five times.
13:00And that's enormous success,
13:02and yet his life is really defined by loss
13:04and not triumph.
13:06The first loss, the most obvious,
13:09and the one that defines it more than anything,
13:12is the loss of a father.
13:13He never had a father.
13:15His father was killed in a car accident
13:16three months before he was born.
13:19Without devolving into too much psychobabble,
13:22that really affected his whole life
13:23and political career.
13:25When he started his political career,
13:31it started with a major loss.
13:33He was the student politician
13:35at Georgetown University
13:37for most of his career there.
13:40And after three years,
13:41his peers decided that they were sick of him.
13:45He was too closely attached
13:46to the Jesuit administration.
13:49He was a little bit out of touch
13:51with the beginnings of the student rebellion
13:55at Georgetown.
13:57And he just was defeated
14:00by a scrappy, working-class kid
14:03who sort of was that generation's
14:07Newt Gingrich in many ways.
14:10And then from that point on,
14:12Clinton lost working for other candidates
14:15in five consecutive races,
14:16moving through a Senate race in 1970
14:20where he worked for an anti-war candidate,
14:21Joe Duffy in Connecticut,
14:22to the McGovern campaign in 72.
14:25He ran for Congress himself in 1974 and lost.
14:29So all through that early formula of years
14:32of his political career,
14:34he was losing.
14:35And in every case,
14:36he was trying to think of
14:37how he could attract enough votes
14:39and change his message enough
14:42to become more attractive.
14:44And then he became governor in 1978.
14:48And in 1980,
14:49after only two years,
14:52he was trounced
14:55by a savings and loan executive in Arkansas
14:59who really was unknown.
15:02The conventional way of assessing that loss
15:05is that from that point on,
15:07it made him the ultimate conciliator,
15:11that he was afraid to upset anyone,
15:14that he was always backing off.
15:16You could not tell
15:16what he really believed in,
15:18that he was trying to be
15:19all things to all people.
15:22In fact, those parts of his character
15:25were already there
15:26to varying degrees.
15:28And I think there's a much deeper
15:31and stronger irony
15:32to the way he changed after that.
15:35He was so deeply affected by that loss
15:40that he essentially would do
15:42whatever it took
15:43never to lose again.
15:45And you have to understand
15:46the profound feelings of that
15:49to understand
15:49both how he became president
15:52and why he's in danger right now.
15:55The fear of losing
15:56would lead to what Marinus calls
15:58Clinton's permanent campaign
16:00and a political character
16:01defined less by belief
16:03than by a will to survive.
16:05I don't think he's play-acting
16:06when he seems one way
16:08to one group
16:09and another way to another.
16:11I think he's a very
16:11protein character
16:13who in many ways
16:15is probably more authentic
16:17in that very diffuse way
16:20than his wife is
16:22who seems so straightforward.
16:24I think when she's
16:26at one point
16:27saying that
16:29she doesn't want to stay home
16:30and bake cookies
16:31and another point
16:33posing on all of the
16:35women's magazines in America
16:36that she is play-acting.
16:39But Clinton is not
16:40in that same way
16:42when he appears to be
16:43different to different groups.
16:47It's played out
16:48probably from the very beginning
16:50of his administration
16:52when he made a promise
16:54during the campaign
16:55that he would
16:57allow gays to serve
16:59in the military.
17:02The conflict over gays
17:03in the military
17:04would prove to be
17:05a perfect example
17:06of Clinton's method.
17:08One which had repeated itself
17:10time and again
17:11in Arkansas.
17:14As I show in the book
17:15it was just a foul-up
17:16that resulted from
17:18which I think he
17:19paid for
17:20for at least
17:21a year and a half
17:22having an inexperienced staff
17:24and knowing much less
17:26about how to function
17:27in Washington
17:28than he thought he did.
17:30He should have said
17:31this is a matter of
17:32equity and discipline
17:34not of what you
17:35think about gays.
17:37It's a military problem.
17:38It's a problem of discipline.
17:40A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian
17:42Gary Wills
17:43has taken the measure
17:44of presidents
17:44from George Washington
17:45to Ronald Reagan.
17:47His latest book
17:48is on the nature
17:49of leadership itself.
17:51He started saying
17:52well I'd like to do this
17:53Joint Chiefs of Staff
17:55tell me what you'll
17:56put up with
17:57and maybe we can
17:58negotiate it.
17:59That was all wrong
18:00in every way.
18:02It made him look weak
18:02it made his stand
18:05not one of principle
18:06but of kind of
18:07it made it look like
18:09he was paying off
18:10his supporters
18:11who were gays
18:11and trying to bargain
18:13to get them as much
18:13as he could.
18:14It was just
18:15bollocked up
18:17from the minute
18:18it was introduced.
18:22This compromise
18:23is not everything
18:23I would have hoped for
18:25or everything
18:26that I have stood for.
18:27He had promised gays
18:28when he was with them
18:29deferred to the Joint Chiefs
18:31when they appeared.
18:32In the end
18:33he would please no one.
18:35I remember he stood up
18:36against his blue curtain
18:38he looked pale
18:38and he said
18:39well I didn't get
18:40everything I wanted
18:41and I frankly
18:42was alarmed
18:43and so were a number
18:44of Democrats
18:45on the Hill
18:46because they said
18:47this man is not strong.
18:49Do you think
18:49you didn't think
18:50through these practical problems
18:52what have you learned
18:54from this experience
18:55in dealing with
18:55powerful members
18:56of the Senate
18:57and the Joint Chiefs
18:58and how much
18:59of a problem
19:00is this for you?
19:01He should have just
19:02issued an executive order
19:03as Commander-in-Chief
19:04because then anybody
19:05who fought with him
19:06had to say
19:07I'm going to disobey
19:08and in our country
19:11luckily up to now
19:13that's a fight
19:14the President can't lose.
19:16Civilian control
19:17is one thing
19:17that's very sacred
19:18to Americans.
19:19There's a constant
19:20measuring of strength
19:22I can remember
19:23when Lyndon Johnson
19:26was getting
19:26the great society
19:27through
19:28bill after bill
19:29after bill
19:29he was getting
19:30them all through
19:31and then one night
19:33in the House
19:33of Representatives
19:34he lost
19:34a minor bill
19:36and he said
19:37to his staff
19:38now the whale
19:39has shed some blood
19:39and the sharks
19:40will move in
19:41and he was right
19:42he never had
19:43the same power
19:43after that
19:44so there's a constant
19:45dynamic in testing
19:46he was passive
19:49members of Congress
19:50House, Senate
19:51both said this to me
19:52and these were people
19:53who were
19:54or could have been
19:56potential allies
19:57but they talked about
19:59this sort of strange
20:00passivity
20:01that he would listen
20:02he might take notes
20:03he would say
20:03well just a minute
20:04I was elected
20:05and I needed to do
20:06X, Y, Z
20:06and that's what I came
20:07here to do
20:08and we're going to do it
20:09no real presidentialness
20:12or leadership
20:13and that undermined
20:15the fact
20:16that he really did
20:17get a lot done
20:18the controversy
20:22over gays
20:23in the military
20:24would also send
20:25a jarring signal
20:26to many voters
20:27if you think
20:30a president
20:31doesn't basically
20:32agree with your values
20:34you're going to
20:35subject everything
20:37he does
20:38to tremendous questioning
20:39I think they
20:40they doubt the sincerity
20:43of his and his wife's
20:44religious commitment
20:45for instance
20:45which I don't for a minute
20:46I think
20:46you know
20:48and I tend to talk
20:49a lot about that
20:50with politicians
20:50because I think
20:51it's so important
20:52and they both
20:54are very
20:55unembarrassed
20:57and knowledgeable
20:59and open
21:01about their
21:02religious views
21:03probably
21:06the timing
21:07of the whole
21:08gay initiative
21:09had a lot
21:09to do with that
21:10and that's
21:11one of the bad
21:12things about it
21:13that it
21:13created this doubt
21:15about his basic
21:16values
21:17people were
21:18very mad
21:18in 1992
21:19at Bush
21:20they didn't know
21:21really what
21:22Clinton represented
21:23they thought they did
21:24but they mostly
21:24wanted not Bush
21:26they got Clinton
21:27they didn't like it
21:28very quickly
21:29they can turn
21:30on a dime now
21:31the half-life
21:32of belief
21:33in newly elected
21:34politicians
21:34is just dropping
21:36dropping dropping
21:36one bullet in the stomach
21:38one bullet for Big Al
21:40and one bullet for the boys
21:42the controversy
21:44early in his presidency
21:45would rekindle doubts
21:47about Clinton's character
21:48doubts that had dogged him
21:50throughout the campaign
21:51you voted last month
21:53on November the 8th
21:54it was a big change
21:55what made you vote
21:57the way you did
21:58did Bill Clinton
21:59have anything to do with it
22:00can he resurrect himself
22:01would you trust him again
22:03in 1996
22:04are you sick
22:05and tired
22:06of the 1960s generation
22:08this guy has no morals
22:09and guts
22:10he goes with the flow
22:11of the wind
22:11would you have more
22:13respect for him
22:14if he had his own
22:15corset of principles
22:16with which you
22:17there's always been
22:18a level of hatred
22:19and dislike
22:20toward Clinton
22:21that is just
22:22beyond
22:24what
22:25what I would
22:25what anyone would
22:26anticipate
22:27for someone like that
22:28from his first campaign
22:31in Arkansas
22:31probably 30 to 35%
22:35of the people
22:36in the congressional district
22:38hated his guts
22:39the conservative preachers
22:43would denounce his campaign
22:46and his campaign office
22:47from the pulpit
22:47spread rumors about him
22:50call him a homosexual
22:51or a libertine
22:53one or the other
22:54say that his campaign office
22:57was a den of
22:58marijuana smoking
23:00and free sex
23:01I mean
23:02there was a
23:03none of that was true
23:05in essence
23:06there was a little bit
23:07of all those things
23:08there always has been
23:09with Clinton
23:10then as now
23:15the frenzy of dislike
23:16aimed at Clinton
23:17was in part
23:18a backlash
23:19against his generation
23:21and the decade
23:22that had shaped
23:24so many of them
23:24there are so many
23:27things that are
23:29working against him
23:30historically
23:30he's the first
23:32baby boomer
23:33he's the first
23:3460s generation
23:36Vietnam generation
23:37he's the first
23:38post-cold war
23:40president
23:40he's the first
23:41president
23:41with a professional
23:42wife
23:43he's a southerner
23:45which puts
23:46some people's
23:47hackles up
23:48and then he adds
23:49to that
23:50his own personal
23:50problems
23:51whatever they are
23:52but I think
23:52any president
23:53would have a hard time
23:54governing right now
23:56the reason for that
23:58is that we have had
24:00a rate of change
24:02in this country
24:03over the last
24:03two or three decades
24:04unparalleled
24:06the whole status
24:09of women
24:09of minorities
24:11of blacks
24:11of gays
24:13of native americans
24:14changes in attitudes
24:17towards censorship
24:18so that
24:19many people
24:20feel rightly
24:22that the america
24:22they grew up with
24:23has been taken away
24:24from them
24:25has disappeared
24:25and
24:26they tend to blame
24:28the 60s
24:29it was a very
24:30disruptive time
24:32there were a lot
24:32of victims
24:33so it was a
24:35double-edged
24:35time
24:36it was very open
24:38there was a lot
24:38of possibility
24:39of change
24:40and it was
24:41yet it was very bitter
24:42fights over
24:43Vietnam
24:43over campus riots
24:46over inner city
24:47turmoil
24:48the war in Vietnam
24:50was a great
24:52psychic wound
24:53and defeat
24:54for this country
24:55which we are still
24:56not fully absorbed
24:58and
24:59and
24:59and
25:00and so
25:02when you say
25:03the 60s
25:04which of those
25:05experiences
25:05does it remind you of
25:06almost every
25:08you can't escape
25:09that memory of the war
25:10both what a tragedy
25:11it was
25:12and
25:12not just the boys
25:13who were lost
25:14but the sort of
25:14the national honor
25:16was lost
25:17in some way
25:18and so then
25:19if you were standing
25:20against it
25:21people who thought
25:22that
25:23shouldn't have
25:25been the outcome
25:26are
25:26it's very
25:27it's a very simple
25:28straightforward reflex
25:29to resent those people
25:31who were against the war
25:33to now be in the halls
25:34of power
25:35for
25:36reasons that
25:37I'm not totally sure of
25:39the negative parts
25:41of the 60s
25:42have lived on
25:44in the American imagination
25:48more than the positive parts of it
25:50more than the idealism
25:51ironically
25:53some of the very events
25:54that sort of
25:55propelled
25:56the 60s generation
25:58also fueled the cynicism
26:00that we face now
26:02from Vietnam to Watergate
26:04and
26:06I think that
26:08that the
26:09without stereotyping too much
26:13our generation
26:14went through a period
26:16of rebellion
26:16and then
26:18faced up to
26:19the real world
26:20and
26:21in probably
26:23starker
26:24and more dramatic terms
26:25than some other generations
26:27and
26:28always felt
26:30guilty about it
26:32and
26:35had less of a
26:36true sense of self
26:38than some other generations
26:39there was no one
26:40easy defining
26:41noble moment
26:42for this generation
26:43Vietnam was not
26:45World War II
26:46even though
26:48you know
26:48even though I agreed with
26:50the liberating movements
26:52in almost every respect
26:53and I thought it was
26:54it was and is
26:55an important contribution
26:58to the life of this
26:59country
26:59you couldn't also
27:02escape
27:03the
27:04the smugness
27:05and the arrogance
27:05of a lot of the young people
27:07in those 60s movements
27:08and I think
27:10quite inadvertently
27:12there are moments
27:12when the Clintons
27:13by their own behavior
27:14remind people of that
27:16there's something about
27:17the
27:18we invented the world
27:19for the first time
27:20you know
27:20in some of their rhetoric
27:22which sort of
27:23yeah where did I hear that
27:24before
27:24oh I remember
27:25the 60s
27:26there's an enormous
27:27irony
27:28which is that
27:29Clinton was never
27:30really
27:31part of the
27:32counterculture
27:33he was never
27:33a rebel
27:34he was almost
27:37but he wasn't
27:39that's
27:40I think that's
27:41basically his problem
27:42he's almost
27:43a lot of things
27:44Mr. Speaker
27:50the President
27:51of the United States
27:52when President Clinton
27:56first appeared
27:57before a joint session
27:58of Congress
27:59in early 1993
28:00the rhetoric
28:02was still about
28:02change and reform
28:04tonight the American
28:07people know
28:07we have to change
28:09but they're also
28:10likely to ask me
28:11tomorrow
28:11and all of you
28:12for the weeks
28:13and months ahead
28:13whether we have
28:15the fortitude
28:15to make the changes
28:16happen in the right way
28:18our people will be
28:20watching and wondering
28:21not to see whether
28:23you disagree with me
28:23on a particular issue
28:24but just to see whether
28:25this is going to be
28:26business as usual
28:27or a real new day
28:29I am asking
28:30the United States
28:31Congress
28:31to pass
28:32a real campaign
28:34finance reform
28:35bill this year
28:35the members of Congress
28:39seemed only too happy
28:41to play their roles
28:42in the charade
28:43he made a series
28:45of implicit deals
28:46with the power centers
28:47that exist in Washington
28:49one of them
28:50is the leadership
28:51of the Democratic Party
28:52in Congress
28:52and just to take
28:54one issue
28:54campaign finance reform
28:56has been argued out
28:58year after year
28:59for quite a long time
29:00everybody knows
29:01where everybody stands
29:02as president
29:04he could have
29:05forced the Democratic Party
29:07particularly in the
29:08House of Representatives
29:09to face the music
29:11and actually do
29:12real reform
29:14instead
29:15he went to the Hill
29:17and said
29:17to the leaders
29:18of the House Democrats
29:19and the Senate Democrats
29:21you guys work it out
29:24I'll tell you
29:25what I'm for
29:25but I'm not going to
29:26press the issue
29:27with you
29:27because you're my
29:28allies and friends
29:29and I need you
29:30on other issues
29:30and I'm not going to
29:32burn you
29:32on this issue
29:33now I know
29:35that was said
29:35fairly explicitly
29:37in private
29:37in public
29:38of course
29:39he still
29:39claimed to be
29:40the reformer
29:41and once he did that
29:44early in his first year
29:45in the presidency
29:46the outcome
29:47was pretty obvious
29:49Democrats
29:50had no interest
29:52in reforming
29:52campaign finance
29:53because on the whole
29:54it worked for them
29:55Republicans
29:57had their own agenda
29:58but they weren't
29:59dying to
30:00reform this money
30:01politics either
30:02and so the issue
30:04sat there
30:05for two years
30:05and then in a last
30:07sort of burst
30:07of action
30:09toward the end
30:10of this year's
30:11congressional election
30:12session
30:13it dies
30:14so who do you blame
30:16for that
30:16well the White House
30:17says the Republicans
30:18did it
30:19well fundamentally
30:19the president
30:20didn't take that fight
30:21he walked away
30:23from it
30:23and I think
30:24he's to blame
30:25for nothing
30:26happening
30:27early on
30:28out of public view
30:30he had thrown away
30:31a rare window
30:32of opportunity
30:33to do something
30:34real about
30:34campaign finance
30:35reform
30:36and out of public view
30:38he had also
30:39thrown away
30:40the means
30:40to do something
30:41real about jobs
30:42our immediate
30:43priority must be
30:44to create jobs
30:45create jobs now
30:47some people say
30:48well we're in a recovery
30:49and we don't have
30:50to do that
30:50well we all hope
30:52we're in a recovery
30:53but we're sure not
30:54creating new jobs
30:55and there's no recovery
30:57worth its salt
30:58that doesn't put
30:59the American people
31:00back to work
31:00left out of the speech
31:03with the details
31:04of a series
31:05of crucial decisions
31:06that had begun
31:07in the weeks
31:07before he was sworn in
31:08compromises
31:10that would subvert
31:11the promise
31:12of his campaign
31:13he was the very first
31:15nominee
31:16from either party
31:17to look directly
31:19into the eyes
31:20the American people
31:21and say
31:21I know your wages
31:23have been declining
31:24for the last 15 years
31:25I mean it seems
31:27that's been going on
31:28actually for 20 years
31:29but this is the first time
31:31a major party nominee
31:32has the nerve
31:34the courage
31:34to say it
31:35he had confronted
31:37the unhinging
31:38of American prosperity
31:39and so pledged
31:41to steer spending
31:42toward investment
31:43in job training
31:44and education
31:45to create the kind
31:46of economic growth
31:47ordinary people
31:48could feel
31:49I think from that moment
31:51people could say
31:51do I believe him
31:53is he serious
31:54or gee
31:55I hope he's serious
31:56and that's what fueled
31:59his election
32:01I think
32:01and in a sense
32:04set up
32:05his great fall
32:06to invest in growth
32:10before taking on
32:11the deficit
32:11would challenge
32:12the conventional orthodoxy
32:14that deficit reduction
32:15must preempt
32:16every other economic priority
32:18in the months ahead
32:20behind the scenes
32:21in the White House
32:22that argument
32:23would split his advisors
32:25in two
32:25one of the polarities
32:28in the Clinton White House
32:29and the Clinton administration
32:30are these people
32:31who elected him
32:32the Carvels
32:33and the Begales
32:34the pollster
32:35Stan Greenberg
32:36the media advisor
32:38Mandy Grunwald
32:39who are saying
32:39do these things
32:41for the middle class
32:42like health care
32:43reduce taxes
32:45and so forth
32:46the old Washington hands
32:49Lloyd Benson
32:50the treasury secretary
32:51Leon Panetta
32:53as budget director
32:54or in his role
32:55as chief of staff
32:56they are saying
32:57look
32:57fix the deficit
32:59that's the real problem
33:00we have
33:00one of his
33:02political advisors
33:03I'll not name
33:04but
33:05who was a strong advocate
33:07both in the campaign
33:09and afterwards
33:10in the White House
33:10for a real
33:13bread and butter
33:15economic program
33:16that would deliver
33:17real tangible
33:18benefits
33:19to working people
33:20said to me
33:22months later
33:23our side
33:25was routed
33:26routed
33:27it's over
33:28we lost
33:29surrounded by
33:30warring advisors
33:31and conflicting advice
33:33he would postpone
33:34his campaign pledge
33:35to invest in
33:36training and jobs
33:37and side with
33:38the financial markets
33:39who wanted
33:40the deficit reduced
33:41Alan Greenspan
33:43the federal reserve
33:44chairman
33:45went to Clinton
33:46and said
33:47if you don't
33:49do this
33:49you risk
33:51the potential
33:53of some sort
33:55of economic
33:55catastrophe
33:56causes you
33:58to sit up
33:58straight
33:59and listen
33:59take note
34:00do the numbers
34:01listen
34:02to alternative
34:04arguments
34:04and
34:05I'm saying
34:07if you were
34:08president of the
34:09United States
34:09you would have
34:10done the same thing
34:11George Bush
34:12certainly would have
34:14Clinton really
34:15had no choice
34:16if Bush
34:17had been elected
34:18or if
34:19Bob Kerry
34:20had been elected
34:21or any of these
34:22people
34:23he would have
34:23had the same
34:24no choice
34:25presidency
34:26you can argue
34:29till you're blue
34:29in the face
34:30over whether
34:30that was
34:31the right thing
34:32for the country
34:33or not
34:33the fact is
34:34it's not
34:34what he campaigned
34:35on
34:35it's not
34:36what elected
34:36him president
34:37the whole
34:39Clinton Gore
34:40campaign
34:40was putting
34:41people first
34:42well he put
34:43the deficit
34:43first
34:44and
34:45economists
34:46care about
34:47that
34:48business people
34:48care about
34:49that
34:49people who
34:50look at it
34:51care about
34:51it
34:52but
34:52the average
34:54person on
34:54the street
34:54just can't
34:55feel it
34:55and can't
34:56see it
34:56and so
34:57Clinton
34:57stopped
34:58the
34:58if you will
35:00economic
35:01cataclysm
35:02from coming
35:03but no one
35:04is going
35:04to say
35:05hey
35:05yay
35:05that's
35:06great
35:07Bill
35:07you
35:07kept us
35:08from having
35:10something
35:10that would
35:10have been
35:11awful
35:11I don't
35:13think he
35:13liked doing
35:14it
35:14at least
35:16he would
35:16often
35:17complain to
35:17his staff
35:18that he
35:18was doing
35:19it
35:19but
35:22he was
35:26he can
35:27be swayed
35:28and
35:29maybe there's
35:31another paradox
35:31there
35:32I think
35:32that he
35:33was swayed
35:33by people
35:34that
35:35knew things
35:36that he
35:37didn't know
35:37who were
35:38older
35:38who were
35:39more
35:40business
35:40oriented
35:41they too
35:42sort of
35:43were father
35:43figures to
35:44him
35:44and he
35:45was more
35:46familiar
35:46with the
35:47arguments
35:47and the
35:47people
35:48on the
35:48other
35:48side
35:48of that
35:49debate
35:49and
35:51more easily
35:52swayed
35:52by the
35:53ones
35:54that he
35:55thinks
35:55know things
35:56that he
35:56doesn't
35:56know
35:57and so
35:59I think
35:59it was
35:59an interesting
36:00intellectual
36:01decision
36:02on his
36:02part
36:03more
36:03than
36:03one
36:04from
36:04his
36:04heart
36:04the
36:07most
36:07sympathetic
36:07way I
36:08can put
36:09it
36:09is that
36:09I think
36:10he's a
36:10very
36:10skillful
36:11politician
36:11who
36:12is used
36:14to being
36:15in the
36:15middle
36:15of
36:16conflicting
36:17pressures
36:18and he
36:20tells
36:20himself
36:21I'll
36:23say yes
36:23to both
36:24sides
36:24and somehow
36:25down the
36:25road
36:26I'll be
36:26able to
36:26finesse
36:27the
36:27differences
36:27now
36:28that's
36:28the
36:28sympathetic
36:29version
36:29my
36:32other
36:32version
36:32would
36:33be
36:33that
36:33he's
36:37not as
36:37smart
36:37as he
36:39thinks
36:39he is
36:39that
36:41coming
36:41from a
36:42small
36:42state
36:42in
36:42Arkansas
36:43where
36:45getting
36:45things
36:46through
36:46the
36:46legislature
36:47was
36:49often
36:49just
36:49a
36:50process
36:50of
36:51making
36:51deals
36:52with
36:52the
36:52four
36:53or
36:53five
36:53big
36:54economic
36:54interests
36:55that
36:55are
36:56powerful
36:56in a
36:57state
36:57like
36:57Arkansas
36:58and
36:59then
36:59they'll
36:59take
36:59care
36:59of
36:59business
37:00for
37:00you
37:00I
37:02think
37:02he
37:02probably
37:03believed
37:03that
37:04coming
37:04to
37:04Washington
37:05he
37:06could
37:06do
37:06well
37:06with
37:07that
37:07same
37:07process
37:08when
37:10Bill
37:10Clinton
37:11put
37:11forth
37:11his
37:12economic
37:12plan
37:13he
37:13would
37:13try
37:13to
37:13reassert
37:14his
37:14credentials
37:15as
37:15a
37:15reformer
37:16he
37:19would
37:19propose
37:20to
37:20eliminate
37:20a
37:21host
37:21of
37:21government
37:21subsidies
37:22breaks
37:23for
37:23special
37:24interests
37:24long
37:24protected
37:25by
37:25congressional
37:27and that
37:28meant
37:28doing
37:28battle
37:29with
37:29the
37:29very
37:29democrats
37:30whose
37:30support
37:30he
37:31had
37:31supposedly
37:31bought
37:32by
37:32backing
37:33off
37:33congressional
37:33reform
37:34it
37:35was
37:35fairly
37:35early
37:36and
37:37a
37:37group
37:37of
37:37western
37:38senators
37:38requested
37:39a
37:39meeting
37:39with him
37:40because
37:40they
37:41were
37:41going
37:41to
37:41raise
37:42the
37:42fees
37:42on
37:43grazing
37:43on
37:44public
37:45lands
37:45and
37:46impose
37:46fees
37:47there
37:47none
37:47on
37:48taking
37:49minerals
37:49important
37:51lucrative
37:52minerals
37:53from
37:54the
37:54public
37:54lands
37:55and
37:56these
37:57were
37:57among
37:58the
37:58relatively
37:59bold
38:00things
38:00he
38:00was
38:00doing
38:01in
38:01his
38:01first
38:01budget
38:01so
38:02these
38:02western
38:02senators
38:03requested
38:04a
38:04meeting
38:04with
38:05him
38:05and
38:06they
38:06sat
38:06down
38:06and
38:06they
38:07reminded
38:07him
38:07that
38:08he
38:08was
38:08the
38:08first
38:09democrat
38:09to
38:09carry
38:10some
38:11of
38:11their
38:11states
38:12the
38:13senators
38:13involved
38:14vigorously
38:15presented
38:15the
38:16case
38:17for
38:17their
38:18constituents
38:18and
38:19shortly
38:19thereafter
38:20the
38:20administration
38:21announced
38:21it
38:21was
38:21dropping
38:22the
38:22whole
38:23proposal
38:23and
38:24one
38:24of
38:24the
38:24senators
38:25said
38:25to
38:25me
38:25you
38:26know
38:26I
38:26thought
38:26uh-oh
38:26he's
38:27gone
38:27too
38:27far
38:27we
38:28didn't
38:28ask
38:28him
38:28to
38:29do
38:29that
38:29they
38:30just
38:31went
38:31further
38:32than
38:32had
38:33been
38:33requested
38:33and
38:33again
38:34that's
38:34the
38:34word
38:35spreads
38:35on
38:36that
38:36because
38:36it
38:36was
38:36in
38:37the
38:37news
38:37then
38:37people
38:37draw
38:38conclusions
38:38hey
38:39if
38:39you
38:39go
38:40down
38:40and
38:40you
38:40push
38:40this
38:41guy
38:41you
38:41can
38:42really
38:42get
38:42something
38:42out
38:43of
38:43him
38:43this
38:44president
38:44has
38:44been
38:45more
38:45generous
38:45with
38:46his
38:46time
38:46and
38:46working
38:47with
38:47members
38:47of
38:47congress
38:48than
38:49I
38:49could
38:49imagine
38:50this
38:50is
38:50the
38:50third
38:50or
38:50fourth
38:51time
38:51I've
38:51been
38:51down
38:52here
38:52the
38:52president's
38:53response
38:53to
38:54this
38:54was
38:54always
38:55come
38:55let's
38:56talk
38:56about
38:56it
38:56and
38:56we'll
38:57all
38:57come
38:57out
38:57we'll
38:57be
38:57happy
38:58Lyndon
38:59Johnson's
38:59response
38:59was
39:00what did
39:00you say
39:00your name
39:01was
39:01he
39:02would
39:02have
39:02laid
39:02him
39:02out
39:03and
39:03that
39:03just
39:04didn't
39:04happen
39:04with
39:04Bill
39:05Clinton
39:05once
39:05people
39:05figured
39:06they
39:06could
39:07have
39:07Adam
39:08without
39:09penalty
39:09they
39:10just
39:10got
39:11really
39:11used
39:11to
39:11it
39:12where
39:13are we
39:13going
39:13Mr.
39:14President
39:14any
39:15reaction
39:16to
39:16the
39:16well
39:19I'm
39:19disappointed
39:20you know
39:20at one
39:21meeting
39:22the president
39:22had suddenly
39:23discovered
39:24that
39:24legislated
39:25caps
39:26on
39:26spending
39:26exist
39:27and
39:28with
39:28the
39:28deals
39:28he
39:29had
39:29been
39:29making
39:29there
39:30was
39:30no
39:30money
39:30left
39:31he
39:32would
39:32be
39:32forced
39:33to
39:33shrink
39:33what
39:33little
39:34training
39:34research
39:35and
39:35investment
39:35he
39:35had
39:35been
39:36trying
39:36to
39:36protect
39:37funds
39:37he
39:38now
39:38sarcastically
39:39called
39:39the
39:40non
39:40Wall
39:41Street
39:41elements
39:41of
39:42his
39:42economic
39:42plan
39:43he
39:44rages
39:45at one
39:45point
39:46in
39:46one
39:46meeting
39:46he
39:47said
39:47we
39:47are
39:47the
39:48Eisenhower
39:48Republicans
39:49we
39:50are
39:50interested
39:51in
39:52deficit
39:52reduction
39:53free
39:53trade
39:54in
39:54the
39:54bond
39:54market
39:55that's
39:56the
39:56Eisenhower
39:56plan
39:57not
39:57the
39:57Clinton
39:58plan
39:58well
39:58of
39:58course
39:59he's
39:59exactly
40:00right
40:00as
40:01usual
40:01his
40:02analysis
40:03is
40:03quite
40:04astute
40:05it
40:06was
40:06now
40:06politics
40:07not
40:08economics
40:08and
40:09he
40:09staked
40:10his
40:10political
40:10leadership
40:11on
40:11passing
40:11a plan
40:12that
40:12had
40:12largely
40:13abandoned
40:13what
40:14he
40:14came
40:14to
40:14town
40:15to
40:15do
40:15I
40:16I
40:16think
40:16he
40:16has
40:16a
40:16political
40:17style
40:17which
40:18is
40:19devoted
40:19mostly
40:20to
40:20demonstrating
40:21to
40:21people
40:21first
40:21of
40:22all
40:22how
40:22knowledgeable
40:23he
40:23is
40:23and
40:24how
40:24sincere
40:24he
40:25is
40:25and
40:25either
40:26sincere
40:27emotionally
40:27or
40:28intellectually
40:28or both
40:29but he
40:31also
40:32pulls
40:33back
40:33from
40:33that
40:34when
40:35he
40:35does
40:36the
40:36real
40:36hardball
40:37decision
40:38making
40:38of
40:38politics
40:39and
40:39says
40:40can't
40:41we
40:41work
40:41this
40:41out
40:42so
40:42that
40:42most
40:42everybody
40:43is
40:43satisfied
40:44with
40:44the
40:44outcome
40:44and
40:46that's
40:46a
40:46kind
40:47of
40:47mediating
40:48style
40:48which
40:48in
40:49some
40:50situations
40:50is
40:50ideal
40:51and
40:51in
40:51others
40:52particularly
40:53the
40:53hardball
40:54of
40:54Washington
40:54politics
40:55is
40:56often
40:56disastrous
40:57because
40:58those
40:58other
40:58players
40:59don't
41:00come
41:00to the
41:01table
41:01with
41:01that
41:01same
41:02motivation
41:03or
41:03inhibition
41:04they
41:05want
41:05to
41:05get
41:05theirs
41:06and
41:07if
41:07they
41:07get
41:07theirs
41:08they
41:08don't
41:08care
41:08what
41:09happens
41:09to
41:09the
41:09whole
41:09enterprise
41:10bill
41:13clinton's
41:14political
41:14life
41:15his
41:15biographer
41:16marinus
41:16says
41:16has
41:17been
41:17a
41:17continuous
41:18cycle
41:18of
41:19learning
41:19and
41:20then
41:20forgetting
41:21this
41:25is a
41:26longtime
41:26friend
41:26who
41:27said
41:27that
41:28people
41:30in
41:30politics
41:31need
41:32affirmation
41:33now
41:34they're
41:34not
41:34all
41:34in
41:34there
41:34because
41:35of
41:35that
41:35but
41:37a lot
41:38of
41:38them
41:38are
41:38and
41:39they
41:39need
41:39quite
41:40a
41:40bit
41:40of
41:40it
41:40they
41:40need
41:41adulation
41:41they
41:42need
41:42to
41:42be
41:42treated
41:42as
41:43important
41:43people
41:44sometimes
41:45they
41:45also
41:45do
41:46good
41:46stuff
41:46too
41:47but
41:47it's
41:47a
41:48fairly
41:48common
41:48trait
41:49and
41:50this
41:50person
41:50was
41:50saying
41:51but
41:51Clinton
41:51needs
41:51so
41:52much
41:52more
41:52of
41:52it
41:52than
41:53almost
41:54anybody
41:54he'd
41:55ever
41:55seen
41:56he
41:57was
41:57four
41:57years
41:58old
41:58when
41:59his
41:59mother
42:00Virginia
42:00married
42:01Roger
42:01Clinton
42:01everybody
42:04in
42:05hope
42:05knew
42:05that
42:06Roger
42:06Clinton
42:07was
42:08an
42:08alcoholic
42:08or
42:09at least
42:09a
42:10heavy
42:10drinker
42:11and
42:11a
42:11philanderer
42:12he
42:13according
42:14to
42:15Bill's
42:15mother
42:15really
42:16loved
42:16Bill
42:16but
42:17there
42:18isn't
42:18much
42:19evidence
42:19of how
42:20that
42:20love
42:20was
42:20expressed
42:21he
42:21never
42:22adopted
42:22Bill
42:23Clinton
42:23Bill
42:25Clinton
42:25took his
42:25name
42:26because
42:26he
42:26wanted
42:27to
42:27not
42:27because
42:27his
42:28stepfather
42:29wanted
42:29him
42:29to
42:30Roger
42:32was
42:33not
42:33home
42:34much
42:34he
42:37worked
42:38at
42:38an
42:39auto
42:40dealership
42:41in
42:41the
42:41parts
42:42department
42:42and
42:42then
42:43went
42:43off
42:43partying
42:44at
42:44night
42:44when
42:45he
42:46was
42:46home
42:46he
42:47was
42:47often
42:47yelling
42:48at
42:48Bill's
42:49mother
42:49on
42:51at
42:51least
42:51four
42:51or
42:52five
42:52occasions
42:52he
42:53physically
42:53abused
42:54her
42:54Bill
42:56Clinton
42:56took
42:57on
42:58the
42:58role
42:58of
42:58the
42:58family
42:59hero
42:59there
43:01there
43:01there's
43:02often
43:02said
43:03to be
43:03two
43:03aspects
43:03to
43:04that
43:04family
43:05hero
43:05syndrome
43:05one
43:06is
43:06that
43:06he's
43:07the
43:07protector
43:07in
43:08the
43:08home
43:08and
43:09the
43:09other
43:09is
43:09that
43:09he's
43:10almost
43:10absolved
43:10of
43:10responsibilities
43:11in
43:12the
43:12home
43:12to
43:13go
43:13out
43:13into
43:13the
43:13outer
43:14world
43:14and
43:15achieve
43:15and
43:16make
43:16the
43:17rest
43:17of
43:17the
43:17family
43:17proud
43:18Clinton
43:20actually
43:21served
43:22both
43:22of those
43:22purposes
43:23he
43:23was
43:23both
43:23his
43:24protector
43:25inside
43:25the
43:26home
43:26and
43:27he
43:27was
43:27sent
43:28out
43:29to
43:29achieve
43:30and
43:30redeem
43:31the
43:32family
43:32and
43:33bring
43:33it
43:33hope
43:34if
43:35you
43:35grow up
43:36in a
43:36household
43:36where
43:37there
43:37is
43:37conflict
43:38around
43:38you
43:38where
43:39life
43:39around
43:39you
43:39is
43:40constantly
43:40in
43:40flux
43:41and
43:42all
43:42you
43:42want
43:42to
43:42do
43:42is
43:43make
43:43it
43:43work
43:43and
43:44to
43:44hold
43:44it
43:44together
43:44and
43:44for
43:45heaven
43:45sakes
43:45not
43:45let
43:45it
43:45fall
43:46apart
43:46politically
43:47that
43:48means
43:48that
43:48your
43:48job
43:49your
43:49instinct
43:50is
43:50never
43:50to
43:54come
43:54here
43:54let's
43:55talk
43:55about
43:55how
43:55can
43:55we
43:55hold
43:56this
43:56together
43:56and
43:57that's
43:57why
43:57people
43:58look
43:58at
43:58him
43:58and
43:58say
43:59where
43:59is
43:59your
43:59core
43:59where
44:01is
44:01your
44:01soul
44:01what
44:01do
44:02you
44:02believe
44:02in
44:24you
44:25care
44:25plan
44:26and
44:26too
44:27expensive
44:27and
44:29earned
44:29him
44:30the
44:30label
44:30of
44:30a
44:31big
44:31government
44:31liberal
44:32Clinton
44:34was
44:34trying
44:34to
44:34pursue
44:35a
44:35type
44:35liberalism
44:36that
44:37somehow
44:37or
44:38other
44:38he
44:38thought
44:39would
44:39be
44:39an
44:39extension
44:40of
44:41the
44:41Roosevelt
44:42era
44:42and
44:42then
44:43the
44:43great
44:43society
44:44there
44:44would
44:44be
44:44the
44:45Clinton
44:45society
44:45or
44:46something
44:46and
44:47that
44:48was
44:48total
44:49mistake
44:49well
44:50I
44:50came up
44:51with
44:51a
44:51plan
44:51that
44:52didn't
44:52work
44:52I
44:53think
44:54they
44:54didn't
44:55envision
44:56the
44:57timelines
44:59that
44:59were
45:00involved
45:00in
45:00changing
45:01what
45:02is
45:02really
45:03one
45:03seventh
45:03of
45:04our
45:04economy
45:05I
45:06don't
45:06think
45:06they
45:06realized
45:07the
45:07political
45:07timelines
45:08and
45:10I
45:10think
45:11there's
45:11much
45:11they
45:11didn't
45:12see
45:13but
45:14in
45:14not
45:14seeing
45:14they
45:15didn't
45:15deliver
45:15the
45:17bottom
45:18line
45:18is
45:19the
45:19middle
45:20class
45:20person
45:21in
45:21this
45:22country
45:22feels
45:22screwed
45:23by
45:23the
45:23Clinton
45:23plan
45:24middle
45:25class
45:25person
45:26feels
45:26they
45:26didn't
45:27get
45:27what
45:28was
45:28promised
45:29in
45:31just
45:31a
45:31couple
45:31of
45:32weeks
45:32why
45:32don't
45:32you
45:33take
45:33leadership
45:33you
45:35promised
45:36the
45:36middle
45:36class
45:37in
45:37the
45:38November
45:38elections
45:38workers
45:39without
45:39a
45:40college
45:40degree
45:40people
45:41making
45:41between
45:4215
45:42and
45:4230
45:43thousand
45:43dollars
45:43a
45:43year
45:44would
45:44abandon
45:45the
45:45Democrats
45:45parole
45:47voters
45:47would
45:47overwhelmingly
45:48choose
45:48Republicans
45:49who
45:49were
45:49promising
45:50a
45:50revolution
45:50in
45:51the
45:51way
45:51Washington
45:51works
45:52across
45:53the
45:53country
45:53every
45:54incumbent
45:54defeated
45:55was a
45:55Democrat
45:56they
45:56want
45:56people
45:57held
45:57accountable
45:58so
45:59I'm
46:00saying
46:00that
46:00to that
46:01extent
46:01that
46:02message
46:02I
46:02got
46:03it
46:03I
46:03accept
46:04responsibility
46:04for not
46:05delivering
46:05to whatever
46:06extent
46:06it's my
46:07fault
46:07we haven't
46:08delivered
46:08back to the
46:09American
46:09people what
46:10they want
46:10on that
46:11I have
46:11to accept
46:12that
46:12responsibility
46:13I've
46:14got to
46:14go
46:15thank
46:15you
46:15Mr.
46:18President
46:18this
46:27sense
46:27of
46:28I
46:29don't
46:29know
46:29exactly
46:30where
46:30I'm
46:31going
46:31I
46:31don't
46:32know
46:32exactly
46:32who
46:33I
46:34am
46:34has
46:34just
46:35out
46:36there
46:36in the
46:37public
46:37it's
46:38palpable
46:38you can
46:38cut it
46:39up
46:39and box
46:40it
46:40almost
46:40and
46:41you
46:42add
46:42to
46:43that
46:43the
46:43questions
46:44about
46:44character
46:45the
46:46feeling
46:46of
46:46distrust
46:47Clinton
46:48has
46:48one
46:48thing
46:49left
46:49and
46:49this
46:50is
46:50where
46:51Clinton
46:52may
46:52wind
46:52up
46:53winning
46:53in
46:5496
46:54he
46:55has
46:55the
46:55office
46:56he
46:57is
46:57president
46:58circumstances
46:59events
47:00may
47:01deal
47:01him
47:02a
47:02hand
47:02in
47:02which
47:03he
47:03can
47:03prove
47:03he's
47:04a
47:04leader
47:04Mr.
47:07Speaker
47:07the
47:08President
47:08of the
47:09United
47:09States
47:10a
47:12week
47:12ago
47:13Bill
47:13Clinton
47:14would
47:14try
47:14once
47:14again
47:15to
47:15define
47:16his
47:16presidency
47:16this
47:18time
47:18standing
47:19face
47:19to
47:19face
47:20with
47:20the
47:20man
47:21and
47:21the
47:21Congress
47:21who
47:22had
47:22handed
47:22his
47:22party
47:23a
47:23stunning
47:23defeat
47:24what
47:25we
47:25have
47:25now
47:26is
47:26an
47:26interesting
47:26moment
47:27because
47:27Newt
47:30Gingrich
47:30has
47:30brilliantly
47:31defined
47:32a whole
47:32new
47:32agenda
47:33and
47:33said
47:33this
47:33is
47:34what
47:34the
47:34country
47:34really
47:34want
47:35it
47:35puts
47:35some
47:36really
47:36fundamental
47:36questions
47:37on the
47:37table
47:37and I
47:38believe it
47:39or not
47:40find that
47:40exhilarating
47:41because I
47:41think
47:41it's an
47:43event
47:43that might
47:44just push
47:45the sort
47:46of pedestrian
47:47run of
47:48politicians
47:48to begin
47:49thinking about
47:49these questions
47:50again
47:50and have to
47:51react to
47:52them
47:52so I
47:52think
47:53the
47:53losses
47:55by Democrats
47:56in 1994
47:57can
47:59can be
47:59a really
48:00creative
48:00moment
48:01for the
48:02country
48:02and
48:03who
48:04knows
48:04where
48:05it
48:05will
48:05lead
48:05but I
48:06think
48:07it
48:07might
48:07be
48:07the
48:08beginning
48:08of
48:09getting
48:09back
48:10to
48:10something
48:10real
48:11in our
48:11national
48:11politics
48:12if we
48:13agree on
48:15nothing
48:15else
48:15tonight
48:16we must
48:17agree
48:17that
48:18the
48:18American
48:19people
48:19certainly
48:20voted
48:20for
48:20change
48:21in
48:211992
48:22and
48:23in
48:231994
48:24and
48:31as I
48:32look
48:32out
48:32at
48:32you
48:32I
48:33know
48:33how
48:33some
48:33of
48:33you
48:34must
48:34have
48:34felt
48:34in
48:351992
48:36but
48:40the
48:47Republicans
48:48are
48:48better
48:49equipped
48:49because
48:50of
48:50being
48:50outsiders
48:51in
48:51this
48:51context
48:52to
48:52do
48:52certain
48:53congressional
48:53reforms
48:54to
48:54get
48:54that
48:55ball
48:55rolling
48:55the
48:56thing
48:56that
48:56they
48:56will
48:57never
48:57do
48:57and
48:58it's
48:58funny
48:59to even
49:00think
49:00about
49:00it
49:00is
49:01do
49:02battle
49:02with
49:03the
49:03power
49:03of
49:03money
49:04in
49:04Washington
49:04and
49:05the
49:05role
49:05of
49:05the
49:05lobbies
49:06and
49:06the
49:06corporate
49:06interests
49:07and
49:07financial
49:07interests
49:08and so
49:08forth
49:08the
49:09whole
49:09idea
49:09of
49:10the
49:10Republicans
49:10shutting
49:11this
49:11down
49:11is
49:12like
49:12New
49:12Orleans
49:12getting
49:13rid
49:13of
49:13the
49:13Mardi Gras
49:14you
49:14know
49:14that's
49:14not
49:14going
49:14to
49:15happen
49:15I
49:15think
49:16we
49:16all
49:16agree
49:16that
49:16we
49:17have
49:17to
49:17change
49:17the
49:17way
49:18the
49:18government
49:18works
49:19let's
49:19make
49:20it
49:20smaller
49:20less
49:20costly
49:21and
49:21smarter
49:21leaner
49:22not
49:23meaner
49:23it
49:27was
49:27one
49:27critic
49:27said
49:28more
49:29smorgasbord
49:29than
49:30speech
49:30people
49:31could
49:31hear
49:31what
49:32they
49:32wanted
49:32to
49:32hear
49:33in
49:35the
49:35election
49:35year
49:35when I
49:36was
49:36trying
49:37to
49:37figure
49:37out
49:37Clinton
49:37and
49:38decide
49:39what
49:39I
49:39really
49:39thought
49:39about
49:40him
49:40I
49:40talked
49:41to
49:41one
49:41of
49:41his
49:41old
49:41old
49:42friends
49:42who
49:43said
49:43a
49:43lot
49:44of
49:44nice
49:44things
49:45about
49:45him
49:45but
49:45also
49:46said
49:47the
49:48question
49:48about
49:49Clinton
49:49has
49:49always
49:50been
49:50who
49:51will
49:51he
49:51defend
49:52when
49:52the
49:52door
49:53is
49:53closed
49:53and
49:53the
49:53real
49:54arguments
49:54begin
49:55and
49:56that
49:57was
49:57a
49:58little
49:58unsettling
49:58at
49:59the
49:59time
49:59and
49:59I
49:59think
49:59it
50:00has
50:00continued
50:01to
50:01be
50:01the
50:01question
50:02about
50:02Clinton
50:02and
50:05he's
50:05at
50:05that
50:05moment
50:06again
50:06now
50:06where
50:06we
50:07really
50:07are
50:09not
50:10absolutely
50:10sure
50:11who
50:12will
50:12he
50:12defend
50:13when
50:13the
50:13door
50:14is
50:14closed
50:14this
50:15is
50:15a
50:16very
50:16very
50:17great
50:17country
50:17and
50:19our
50:19best
50:19days
50:20are
50:20still
50:21to
50:21come
50:21thank
50:22you
50:22and
50:23god
50:23bless
50:23you
50:23all
50:24going
50:30back
50:30to
50:30when
50:30he
50:31was
50:31a
50:31student
50:31at
50:32Georgetown
50:32he
50:32could
50:32always
50:33figure
50:33out
50:33the
50:34test
50:34questions
50:35all
50:35of
50:35his
50:36buddies
50:36would
50:37come
50:37to
50:37him
50:38when
50:38they
50:38were
50:38studying
50:38for
50:38an
50:38exam
50:39because
50:39they
50:39knew
50:39Clinton
50:40would
50:40know
50:41which
50:41question
50:42the
50:42professor
50:42would
50:42put
50:43on
50:43the
50:43test
50:43and
50:44in
50:44his
50:44political
50:45career
50:45he
50:46has
50:46often
50:46anticipated
50:47the
50:48problems
50:48that he
50:48would
50:48confront
50:49but he
50:51has not
50:52figured out
50:53necessarily
50:53how to
50:54get
50:54beyond
50:55them
50:55in the
50:56long run
50:56and
50:57and
50:57and
50:57that's
50:57I
50:59guess
50:59that's
50:59the
50:59ultimate
51:00test
51:00question
51:00and
51:01he
51:01hasn't
51:02got
51:02it
51:02yet
51:02dear
51:19front
51:19line
51:19I
51:20am
51:20so
51:20grateful
51:21for
51:21front
51:21line
51:22and
51:22now
51:22it's
51:23time
51:23for
51:23your
51:23letters
51:24our
51:26recent
51:26program
51:27the
51:27nicotine
51:27war
51:28brought
51:28in
51:28a
51:28flood
51:29of
51:29letters
51:29concerned
51:29that
51:30cigarettes
51:30should
51:31be
51:31regulated
51:31we
51:32also
51:32received
51:33a
51:33few
51:33dissenting
51:34letters
51:34dear
51:35front
51:35line
51:35I
51:36agree
51:37that
51:37it
51:37is
51:37likely
51:37that
51:38nicotine
51:38is
51:38an
51:38addictive
51:39substance
51:39but
51:40anyone
51:40with
51:40the
51:40intelligence
51:41to
51:41light
51:41a
51:41cigarette
51:41without
51:42burning
51:42the tip
51:42of
51:43their
51:43nose
51:43should
51:44be
51:44well
51:44aware
51:44of
51:44that
51:44possibility
51:45as well
51:46as the
51:46other
51:46harmful
51:46results
51:47of
51:47smoking
51:47it
51:48is
51:48thanks
51:48to
51:48your
51:49kind
51:49of
51:49alarmist
51:49misplaced
51:50journalism
51:50that
51:50being
51:51a
51:51smoker
51:51in
51:51America
51:52in
51:521995
51:53is
51:54like
52:01lighten
52:02up
52:02and
52:02I
52:02trust
52:02that
52:02I
52:03don't
52:03have
52:03to
52:03advise
52:03you
52:03of
52:04the
52:04risks
52:04involved
52:04Daniel
52:05Cecil
52:05Muncie
52:06Indiana
52:06Dear
52:08Frontline
52:09yesterday
52:10I bought
52:10a carton
52:11of
52:11cigarettes
52:11even
52:12though
52:12I
52:12voted
52:13last
52:13November
52:13for
52:14a
52:1420
52:14cent
52:14per
52:15pack
52:15tax
52:15on
52:16cigarettes
52:16last
52:17night
52:18I
52:18saw
52:18your
52:18show
52:19on
52:19PBS
52:19today
52:20I'm
52:20returning
52:21the
52:21carton
52:21to
52:22the
52:22store
52:22tonight
52:23I
52:23will
52:23probably
52:24get
52:24up
52:24out
52:24of
52:24bed
52:24and
52:25drive
52:25to
52:25an
52:26all
52:26night
52:26convenience
52:26store
52:27and
52:28buy
52:28a
52:28pack
52:28of
52:28cigarettes
52:29the
52:30importance
52:30of
52:30knowing
52:31and
52:31realizing
52:31that
52:32nicotine
52:32is
52:33the
52:33strongest
52:33of
52:33addictive
52:34drugs
52:34will
52:35never
52:35be
52:35told
52:36loudly
52:36enough
52:36or
52:37publicized
52:37widely
52:38enough
52:38anonymous
52:39in
52:40Tucson
52:40Arizona
52:40Dear
52:42Frontline
52:42the
52:43question
52:43still
52:44remains
52:44do
52:45we
52:45need
52:45the
52:45government
52:46to
52:46protect
52:46us
52:47from
52:47ourselves
52:47despite
52:48my
52:49ill
52:49will
52:49toward
52:49the
52:50tobacco
52:50manufacturers
52:51I
52:51still
52:52believe
52:52that
52:52the
52:53individual
52:53should
52:53have
52:53the
52:54unabated
52:54freedom
52:54of
52:55choice
52:55but
52:56I
52:56also
52:56believe
52:57in
52:57telling
52:57the
52:57truth
52:57Morrison
52:59Giffen
52:59Carborough
53:00North
53:00Carolina
53:01you
53:02can
53:02interact
53:02with
53:03Frontline
53:03by
53:03sending
53:03your
53:04comments
53:04by
53:04fax
53:05to
53:05617-254-0243
53:08by
53:09letter
53:09or home
53:09video
53:10to
53:10Dear
53:11Frontline
53:11125
53:12Western
53:13Avenue
53:13Boston
53:14Massachusetts
53:1402134
53:16She
53:21went
53:21to
53:22Hollywood
53:22to
53:23start
53:23to
53:23bring
53:23jeans
53:24down
53:24a
53:24little
53:24bit
53:25you
53:25look
53:25like
53:25a
53:25million
53:26Khalid
53:26and
53:27ended
53:27up
53:27in
53:28a
53:28nightmare
53:28you
53:28look
53:29fabulous
53:29Colleen
53:30Applegate
53:31did not
53:31like
53:32doing
53:32sex
53:32on
53:33film
53:33terrific
53:34she
53:35hated
53:35it
53:35a
53:35small
53:36town
53:36girl
53:36like
53:37she
53:37just
53:37came
53:37right
53:38off
53:38the
53:38farm
53:38who
53:39killed
53:39herself
53:40great
53:40take
53:40the
53:41picture
53:41death
53:41of a
53:42porn
53:42queen
53:42next
53:43time
53:43on
53:43Frontline
53:44then
53:48in
53:48two
53:49weeks
53:49Pablo
53:52Escobar
53:53the
53:54richest
53:54most
53:55violent
53:55criminal
53:56in
53:56history
53:57Escobar
53:58is
53:58probably
53:58the
53:59head
53:59of
53:59the
53:59largest
53:59criminal
54:00organization
54:00the world
54:00has ever
54:01known
54:01Escobar
54:03was to
54:04cocaine
54:04what Ford
54:05was to
54:05automobiles
54:06next
54:08time
54:08on
54:08Frontline
54:09the
54:10godfather
54:11of
54:11cocaine
54:12he
54:12he
54:13he
54:14he
54:16he
54:17he
54:17he
54:17he
55:18Funding for Frontline is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
55:26and by annual financial support from viewers like you.
55:33Frontline is produced for the Documentary Consortium by WGBH Boston,
55:38which is solely responsible for its content.
55:40For videocassette information about this program,
55:48please call this toll-free number, 1-800-328-PBS1.
55:54This is PBS.
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