Clinton: I will never resign
BY JOHN F. HARRIS
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — On the darkest day of six years in the White House, President Clinton walked onto the South Lawn on Saturday and took his place before a loyal guard of House Democrats, the vice president and staff.
Summoning every friend he could find, he tried to send a message loud enough for the nation to hear: He will never give in, he will never step down.
“I want the American people to know today that I am still committed to working with people of good faith and good will of both parties to do what's best for our country, to bring our nation together, to lift our people up, to move us all forward together,” Mr. Clinton declared, three hours after becoming the Republic's second impeached president. “It's what I've tried to do for six years. It's what I intend to do for two more until the last hour of the last day of my term.”
Hugs for the cameras
The images, as much as the words, were what the White House hoped would rally Americans to the president's side for the impending battle over his future.
With a wan smile, the president strode out of the Oval Office arm-in-arm with first lady Hillary Clinton — the person wounded most directly by the illicit relationship that has put his presidency on a constitutional precipice.
When he finished speaking, he shared an embrace with House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo. — the leader of the congressional Democrats with whom Mr. Clinton has often had such fractious relations in the past.
The physical gestures were intended to send the nation a reassuring message — he is not alone — on the day Mr. Clinton received the most humiliating rebuke of his career.
And the words, from both Mr. Clinton and Vice President Gore, were intended to convey an even more emphatic message: He will never resign.
The White House's top priority is now thwarting any public expectations that the president might step down rather than continue the defiant defense he has maintained through a year of personal scandal. On the most solemn of days, Mr. Clinton's handlers sought to convey the optimism of a partisan pep rally as he rattled off his unfinished agenda: Social Security, health care, education.
But as Mr. Clinton and his loyalists sought to convey optimism about the future, it was impossible to chase away the aura of gloom and defeat that hung over the presidency.
A tale of one year
The day, after all, was the culmination of 12 months in which the president was reduced into something resembling a creature of prey, in a desperate flight to elude his pursuers and cling to secrets that he feared could destroy him.
• Dec. 19, 1997: America did not know it yet, but the realization already was dawning on Mr. Clinton that his presidency was on the edge. The public Mr. Clinton was busy putting together a budget and preparing for a trip to Bosnia; the private Mr. Clinton knew that embarrassing facts were in danger of escaping. This was the day that Monica Lewinsky received a subpoena to testify in the Paula Jones lawsuit.
• Dec. 19, 1998: A man who has dreamed of the presidency since he was a boy, who has spent long conversations brooding with advisers about what his legacy will be, learned the answer. At 1:25 p.m., the House of Representatives tattooed the phrase “impeached” on Mr. Clinton's brow, an emblem he will wear through history.
“This has been a heartbreaking experience for him,” said Terrence McAuliffe, a 1996 campaign aide and a close friend. “He is so proud of what he has done for the country .... He believes that history books will recognize the good things he has done, but he also knows that as people read the legacy of Bill Clinton, this unfortunately will be one of things they read.”
"Sorry he got caught'
Has Mr. Clinton changed as a man? By his own testimony, and that of several friends, the Lewinsky scandal has altered him fundamentally — forced him to confront self-destructive behavior.
It was a sign of Mr. Clinton's strained credibility that many Republicans, and even some people on his own team, seemed to doubt the transformation.
“Is he sorry? Yes, I think he's sorry that he got caught,” said one former senior administration official who remains close to many at the Clinton White House. “But ... I don't think a person changes the way they are after so many years.”
Many missed chances
Many times, Mr. Clinton dismissed the advice of aides to make a dramatic move that, while risky in the short term, might have brought closure to this controversy before it reached this point.
He could have settled the Jones suit once he knew that her lawyers were aware of Ms. Lewinsky. He did not. He could have admitted his relationship with Ms. Lewinsky in January and asked the country for forgiveness. Instead he delivered a finger-wagging lie that vastly compounded his difficulties later. He could have acknowledged this lie earlier than August.
But once the nation knew that independent counsel Kenneth Starr possessed a dress with physical evidence of his sexual relationship with Ms. Lewinsky, Mr. Clinton and his spokesman never could convince people that he was genuinely contrite.
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