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Politics : Bill Clinton Scandal - SANITY CHECK -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jlallen who wrote (39569)	3/19/1999 10:09:00 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 67261

MARCH 19, 19:13 EST Clinton: Good Outweighs Negative By TERENCE HUNT AP White House Correspondent Clinton during his news conference AP/Doug Mills [19K] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WASHINGTON (AP) — Five weeks after surviving impeachment, President Clinton said today the record will show ''one negative'' when he lied but hundreds and hundreds of other times ''when I did not abuse my authority as president, that I was truthful with the American people.'' In a post-mortem on a scandal-scarred year, the president also said he and his wife Hillary are still working on repairing their relationship and that, ''We love each other very much.'' He said he had not a clue whether she would run for a U.S. Senate seat — but pointedly added that the first lady had suggested they move to New York when he leaves the White House. Clinton spoke with reporters at his first full-scale White House news conference in nearly a year, answering questions that largely focused on suspected Chinese nuclear espionage and the threat of airstrikes in Kosovo. He said NATO must be prepared to carry out airstrikes against Serbs because ''hesitation is a license to kill.'' He said the Serbs already had crossed the threshold that warrants military actions. The president defended his administration's handling of China's suspected theft of secrets from U.S. nuclear labs in the 1980s. He also said, ''To the best of my knowledge, no one has said anything to me about any espionage which occurred by the Chinese against the labs during my presidency.'' Clinton also was asked about impeachment, the loyalty of former aides who have written tell-all books and allegations that he sexually assaulted an Arkansas woman 21 years ago when he was the state attorney general. His attorney has denied the assault allegation, and Clinton said, ''He speaks for me. I think he spoke quite clearly.'' Clinton refused to discuss his personal reflections about his bitterly partisan impeachment ordeal or comment on whether he feels resentment or relief. ''It's best for me not to focus on that now. I think it's best for me to focus on my job. I have nearly two years to go.'' But a questioner pinned him down about ''what your legacy will be about lying'' and the importance of telling the truth. After initially denying that he had an affair with Monica Lewinsky, Clinton last year acknowledged that they had a sexual relationship and that he had lied about it. The president said the lesson for young people will be that even presidents have to tell the truth and there are consequences when they don't. ''But I also think that there will be a box score,'' Clinton said, ''and there will be that one negative and then there will be the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times when the record will show that I did not abuse my authority as president, that I was truthful with the American people.'' Further, he said that ''scores and scores of allegations were made against me and widely publicized without any regard to whether they were true or not. Most of them have already been actually proved false. And it's very hard to disprove every false allegation against you but we have had more success, frankly, than I was afraid we would when we started.'' Clinton chuckled when a reporter asked why people ''have been so mean to you. Is it a conspiracy, is it a plan?'' He said that despite all his troubles, ''I have been very blessed in my life.'' He declined to criticized former senior adviser George Stephanopoulos, now a television commentator, and former political adviser Dick Morris for writing books that reveal insider secrets and their personal feelings about Clinton. ''I haven't read either of the books or even any articles about it,'' he said. But he said he valued the loyalty and service he has received ''from the overwhelming majority'' of people who have worked for him. The president reserved special praise for Vice President Al Gore, tweaked by Republicans for his claims that he invented the Internet and spent his boyhood plowing hills in Tennessee. Clinton said it's a challenge for any politician to promote himself without overdoing it. ''I'll be happy to toot his horn ... because there's no question that he has been integral to all the good things that have happened in this administration,'' the president said. On other personnel matters, Clinton said he has not talked with Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan about whether to reappoint him to another term. Be he cautioned that no one should draw any conclusions from that. Clinton also said he has not talked with Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin about his future, although rumors that Rubin is about to leave shake Wall Street from time to time. ''I hope he will stay ... But I do not know what his specific plans are,'' the president said. On another subject, Clinton said he hopes Russia can reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund for billions of dollars in bailout funds. But he expressed concern that money already sent to Russia has been siphoned off improperly. The president said international relief ''will only work if the money doesn't turn around and leave the country as soon as it's put in.''