posted on May 28, 2003 06:18:33 PM newPoor, poor misunderstood Willie
Clinton: Presidents' private lives are fair game to a point
By Martin Finucane, Associated Press, 5/28/2003 18:51
BOSTON (AP) Former President Bill Clinton said Wednesday that a president's private life is a legitimate subject for historians to study, but he decried the scrutiny of his private life he endured during his two terms in the White House.
Clinton spoke at the library dedicated to his boyhood hero, John F. Kennedy, in an informal discussion with historian Michael Beschloss. The two men sat on a stage in red leather chairs as several hundred spectators looked on.
Asked by Beschloss if historians should concern themselves with the private lives of presidents, Clinton said, ''I think you do have to deal with it to some extent if you're an historian.''
As for biographers, he said, ''a person's life is a life.''
But Clinton said there was a difference between writing history and ''writing a story ... and basically just every day trying to turn a public person into a private pinata.
''I think there's a whole lot of difference between writing a retrospective biography of somebody when all of the records are in and half the people are gone and just, you know, essentially feasting on them under the guise of trying to enlighten the public when it has nothing to do with enlightening the public, it's a grab for power, ratings, or position.''
Asked by Beschloss whether certain presidents were well-suited for their times, Clinton talked about other presidents then turned to himself: ''I was particularly well-suited to serve when I did because I have a higher pain threshold than most people.
''Because of my upbringing, I had a particular tolerance for it that made it easier for me to survive,'' he said.
Clinton was introduced by U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., the brother of the late president, who told Clinton he had been ''a wonderful friend to the people of Massachusetts.''
''At least for your two terms, Mr. President, we had a president who said he'd put people first and did it,'' Kennedy said.
Clinton has said a 1963 visit to the White House, where he shook JFK's hand, had a ''very profound impact'' on him. The Kennedy Library's film of that event was played before Clinton spoke.
Looking fit in a blue suit and green tie, Clinton seemed relaxed during the discussion with Beschloss in an auditorium packed with Massachusetts Democratic activists and politicians, business leaders and other dignitaries.
Clinton had plenty of barbs for Republicans, citing a saying he attributed to President Lyndon B. Johnson, that ''Republicans were primarily interested in cutting taxes for their friends and investigating Democrats.
''As near as I can see, that was about it,'' he said. ''It was like it didn't matter if there was anything there or not. As a matter of fact, they always seemed to be happy when there wasn't anything there because it gave them an excuse to keep on going.''
But Clinton also responded thoughtfully when Beschloss asked him if there were certain things that historians just couldn't understand about what it's like to be president.
''The thing that I think is difficult to convey is how everything happens at once,'' he said. ''And how you're supposed to keep sort of centered in an almost Zen-like state, no matter what the incoming fire is, so that you can do first every day for the eight years ... what seems best for the country and the future of the world.
''That's the one thing I think is almost impossible to capture for an outsider, just the way it all happens at once,'' he said.
Clinton said he was enjoying life outside the presidency, but it had taken some adjustment.
''For a couple of months,'' he quipped, ''I was disoriented when I walked in a room and they didn't play a song anymore.
''I think I was genuinely surprised by how happy I was to have my life back,'' he said.
But he also said he missed the work and the people. ''It's a good thing we've got the term limits or you'd have had to throw me out,'' he said.
