THE LIES OF SLICK WILLY: Former President Blows His Top
www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,5-2004290413,00
June 23, 2004
Betrayal ... Clinton cheated on his wife with Monica Lewinsky
FORMER President Bill Clinton blew his top on BBC’s Panorama last night when quizzed about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.
Asked if he was sorry, a furious Clinton – busy plugging his autobiography My Life – launched into a tirade about media bias.
Here TREVOR KAVANAGH assesses the man whose public and private lives clashed.
BILL CLINTON is entitled to rewrite history. That’s what memoirs are for.
But for those who witnessed his Grand Jury evidence and the Starr inquiry, his book borders on self-justifying fiction.
The ex-President, known as Slick Willy, uses his 1,000-page autobiography to whitewash eight flawed years in power.
Independent prosecutor Ken Starr concluded that he committed perjury, obstructed justice, tampered with witnesses and abused his power.
“The President continued to lie and lie and lie,” he said.
He fibbed about drug-taking — saying he “didn’t inhale” — and his relentless adultery.
Not only did he lie on oath by saying: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” He also persuaded Monica Lewinsky and others to lie.
Clinton destroyed the reputation of an innocent woman, Paula Jones, whom he allowed to be denounced as “trailer trash”.
Many of his closest aides and friends felt betrayed when a man they revered was exposed as an insatiable and indiscriminate predator.
He was pursued by scandal and money worries and disgraced his seals of office as leader of the free world.
He now pretends his irresponsible relationship with an awestruck junior intern was a rare marital betrayal.
And that his wife Hillary felt as if she had been “punched” when he woke her to confess.
Smiler ... Clinton uses charm to make
the world forget his bad behaviour
But Hillary knew he was a serial womaniser and he virtually admits the real reason she was shocked was that he had been found out.
To be fair, there were successes. His eight years as President from 1992 coincided with the most stable and prosperous period in American history.
But that was largely due to the deft stewardship of Federal Bank chief Alan Greenspan.
There was a near-triumph over Middle East peace — sabotaged by treacherous Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
Clinton’s negotiating charm played a part in Northern Ireland and he was decisive in the first Gulf War against Saddam Hussein.
But however he whitewashes his years in the White House, he will be remembered not for those achievements but for his personal misconduct.
There have been other Presidential philanderers. But unlike the most famous of them, John F Kennedy, who faced down the Kremlin over the Cuban missile crisis, Clinton can claim no great accomplishments to offset seedy personal conduct.
Americans didn’t have to be prudish to be shocked that their leader enjoyed oral sex with Monica Lewinsky while on the phone to senior Congressmen.
They hated the embarrassing public testimony that, as Arafat waited outside the Oval Office, Clinton used a cigar as a sex aid, then lit up and said: “This tastes good.”
Even in this liberated age, it was hard, as they sang Hail To The Chief, to realise they were saluting a man who had ejaculated over his secretary’s dress.
These were the sorry stories one White House insider described as “clinically graphic, not the sort of thing you’d want your children to hear”.
Still, Clinton remains the hero of the sentimental Left.
They condemn Republican George Bush for joining the National Guard rather than fighting in Vietnam.
But for Clinton, his draft-dodging in that conflict is a badge of honour.
When Republican President Richard Nixon was chucked out of office over Watergate, the Left whooped with approval.
But when Clinton sailed close to impeachment over persistent, calculated lies, fans dismissed it as a lapse of judgment.
To be fair, it is not just the Left who now see the Clinton years through a rosy glow.
His sunny smile and megawatt personality have endeared him to many who once despised him.
He is even manoeuvring now to install Hillary as the next US President but one.
So it is no accident that Bill Clinton has timed his memoirs to overshadow the candidacy of lacklustre Democrat John Kerry.
He will do nothing to help Kerry in the 2004 election while his wife has a chance of succeeding Bush in 2008.
Clinton may have made life hell for Hillary as First Lady.
Now he aims to restore his image as America’s First Man.
Clinton in his
own words
Compiled by MARTIN PHILLIPS
ON Monica Lewinsky:
“I misled people, including my wife. I deeply regret that. I was involved in two great fights. A struggle with the Republicans, which I won. And a struggle with my old demons, which I lost.”
Why he had an affair:
“Because I could. I’ve thought about it a lot. There are lots of more sophisticated explanations . . . but none of them are an excuse.”
Confessing to Hillary that he had lied about Lewinsky:
“It was a bad day. She looked at me as if I had punched her in the gut – almost as angry at me for lying to her as for what I’d done. We were each other’s best friends. We’d been through everything together. I deserved a kicking all right.”
Confessing to daughter Chelsea:
“Sooner or later, every child learns that their parents are not perfect.”
Saving his marriage:
“We did it together. We did it individually. We did family work. There was obviously a lot of pain involved, because I had made a terrible personal mistake which I didn’t try to correct until almost a year later.”
Exhaustion:
“Almost all the mistakes I’ve made in my life, personal and public, happened to me when I was so tired I could hardly lift my arms above my shoulders. I bet it’s true in every White House that’s ever existed.”
Special prosecutor Kenneth Starr and the bid to impeach him:
“It was fundamentally a political move. It was not rooted in any established principles of constitution, or law, or precedent. People strongly disagree with what I did. I did, too. Ken Starr spent $70million to find out I’m a sinner. You could have told him that for free.”
On himself:
“Whether I’m a good man is, of course, for God to judge. I know that I am not as good as my strongest supporters believe or as I hope to become, nor as bad as my harshest critics assert.”
Forgiving himself for his mistakes:
“I’ve had a wonderful life since I left the White House. I’m thrilled with how Hillary’s doing. And we’re still laughing, having a good time together. My life had a lot more good than bad.”
His triumphs:
“The day the Kosovar war ended and I knew Milosevic’s days were numbered was a great day. I had a lot of great days.”
His failures:
“I regret that I didn’t succeed in getting Osama bin Laden. And, equally, I’m sorry that I wasn’t able enough to convince the Israelis and the Palestinians to make peace.”
September 11:
“My first thought was, ‘Osama bin Laden did this.’ ”
The Queen:
“I was taken with her grace and intelligence and the clever manner in which she discussed public issues, probing me for information and insights without venturing too far into expressing her own political views.”
Tony Blair’s alliance with George Bush over Iraq:
“I think he thought, ‘In for a dime, in for a dollar.’ The most important thing now is for all of us to support a stable, peaceful and pluralistic Iraq.” |
