Below is an annotated transcript of President Clinton's televised address to the nation on Monday, August 17, 1998. The bracketed interpolations in green refer to the underscored portions.
Good evening. This afternoon in this room, from this chair, I testified before the Office of Independent Counsel and the grand jury. I answered their questions truthfully, including questions about my private life, questions no American citizen would ever want to answer. [The opening strategy: Follow undisputed facts and a flat assertion of truthfulness with an indisputable assertion that puts the speaker in a sympathetic light.]
Still, I must take complete responsibility for all my actions, both public and private. And that is why I am speaking to you tonight.
As you know, in a deposition in January, I was asked questions about my relationship with Monica Lewinsky. While my answers were legally accurate, I did not volunteer information. [The key sentence of the entire speech. The first clause leads us to expect an admission of deceptive intent. In our minds we finish the sentence for him, giving him credit for the admission. But all Clinton admits is that he didn't say more than he had to. Of course he didn't. Before we know it, we are shrugging and perjury is a faint memory.] Indeed, I did have a relationship with Ms. Lewinsky that was not appropriate. In fact, it was wrong.
It constituted a critical lapse in judgment and a personal failure on my part for which I am solely and completely responsible. [Here we go again. The acceptance of responsibility is especially hollow given what comes next.]
But I told the grand jury today and I say to you now that at no time did I ask anyone to lie, to hide or destroy evidence or to take any other unlawful action. [Note that he is not denying that he sanctioned, or knew of, or even initiated efforts to obstruct justice -- merely that he didn't explicitly solicit them.]
I know that my public comments and my silence about this matter gave a false impression. I misled people, including even my wife. I deeply regret that. ["Public comments" is a nice term for a flat, finger-pointing, stage-managed denial. As for his "silence," it fooled no one -- to the contrary, it made his guilt all the more obvious.]
I can only tell you I was motivated by many factors. [Why should his motivation matter? As exculpation, of course.] First, by a desire to protect myself from the embarrassment of my own conduct. [He softens us up by admitting the obvious, again soliciting our sympathy.] I was also very concerned about protecting my family. [Then, right away, he
starts to portray his lie as an honorable act. Should not any father protect his family?] The fact that these questions were being asked in a politically inspired lawsuit, which has since been dismissed, was a consideration, too. [What sort of "a consideration"? Clinton's suggestion is that since Paula Jones's lawsuit was without merit, he had good reason not to tell the truth. Not that he actually lied, of course.]
In addition, I had real and serious concerns about an independent counsel investigation that began with private business dealings 20 years ago, dealings, I might add, about which an independent federal agency found no evidence of any wrongdoing by me or my wife over two years ago. [Notwithstanding that the Jones suit was separate from the independent counsel's investigation, Clinton knew that his deposition would become fodder for the latter. And the President's "real and serious concerns" about Starr's inquiry -- now known to be without foundation -- led the President to withhold information. By lying, Clinton suggests, he was standing up for justice, perhaps even for the Constitution itself.]
The independent counsel investigation moved on to my staff and friends, then into my private life. And now the investigation itself is under investigation. This has gone on too long, cost too much and hurt too many innocent people. [Starr's investigation is not only baseless but possibly corrupt. Certainly it is destructive. The President must speak out on behalf of its victims.]
Now, this matter is between me, the two people I love most -- my wife and our daughter -- and our God. I must put it right, and I am prepared to do whatever it takes to do so. [We ought to be ashamed of ourselves for even thinking to intrude on this private matter -- by asking, for instance, what it might take to "put it right."]
Nothing is more important to me personally. But it is private, and I intend to reclaim my family life for my family. It's nobody's business but ours. Even presidents have private lives. It is time to stop the pursuit of personal destruction and the prying into private lives and get on with our national life.
Our country has been distracted by this matter for too long, and I take my responsibility for my part in all of this. That is all I can do. [What on earth can this mean?] Now it is time -- in fact, it is past time -- to move on. We have important work to do -- real opportunities to seize, real problems to solve, real security matters to face.
And so tonight, I ask you to turn away from the spectacle of the past seven months, to repair the fabric of our national discourse, and to return our attention to all the challenges and all the promise of the next American century. [The gently chastening implication is that We, the People, have been showing an unhealthy interest in this sordid mess. Why don't we grow up?]
Thank you for watching. And good night.
>>>From the American Spectator web page |
