♪ ♪
PETER JENNINGS:
We interrupt your
regular program
for quite
an extraordinary moment
in the history
of the United States.
A short while ago, President
Clinton's staff came to tell us
that he was going to come
to the Rose Garden now
and make some remarks.
REPORTER:
Peter, the president
will make another attempt
to say he's sorry
about what he's caused.
(cameras clicking)
NARRATOR:
Bill Clinton had come
into office
with notions
of an heroic presidency,
to inscribe his name in history
alongside FDR and JFK.
Good afternoon.
NARRATOR:
But on the afternoon
of December 11, 1998,
he came to the Rose Garden
of the White House
to apologize
to the American people.
I am profoundly sorry
for all I have done wrong
in words and deeds.
I never should have misled
the country, the Congress,
my friends, or my family.
Quite simply,
I gave in to my shame.
JOE KLEIN:
It's almost as if all of this
was just too easy for him.
It's almost as if he had
to set up these barriers
that he could then leap across,
or stagger across,
but get across
in any event, always.
I'm going to give you
this election back.
And if you'll give it to me,
I won't be like George Bush.
I'll never forget who gave me
a second chance
and I'll be there for you
till the last dog dies.
And I want you to remember that.
DEE DEE MYERS:
How many second chances, right?
How many second chances
does any one person deserve?
Clinton's view is
as many second chances
as a person is willing
to try to take.
You know, I mean,
as many times as you fail,
don't you deserve the chance
to redeem yourself?
Isn't history loaded with people
who have fallen and gotten up,
and fallen and gotten up,
and fallen and gotten up
and done great things?
We will together build a bridge
to the 21st century
wide enough and strong enough to
take us to America's best days.
Will you do that?
MAX BRANTLEY:
There's a stick-to-itiveness
about him
that's just phenomenal.
An abiding belief that if he
can just have enough time,
he can win over
just about anybody.
(crowd cheering)
DAVID MARANISS:
The central repetitive theme
of Bill Clinton's life
is loss and recovery.
Never count him out
because, always,
he will find his way back.
I end tonight where
it all began for me.
I still believe in a place
called Hope.
(crowd cheering)
MYERS:
Where does it come from?
The unwillingness
to quit on himself,
on the things he believed in,
on the people he cared about?
He disappoints them every time
on some level,
but he always gets up
and tries to make it better.
You know, what else can you ask
from a sinner?
JOHN HARRIS:
Success, misjudgment,
in some cases catastrophe,
followed by comeback.
That resilience is central
to who he is as a politician.
I think it's central
to who he is as a man.
♪ ♪
(crowd chattering)
NARRATOR:
He would emerge
from the political backwaters
of Arkansas--
"like a country tornado,"
one newspaper wrote...
What's your name?
NARRATOR:
...a political natural unlike
anyone had seen in a generation.
(chattering)
But in the winter of 1992,
as Bill Clinton began
campaigning for president
in New Hampshire,
he was still a relative unknown,
eager to win over voters
and his young campaign staff.
JAMES CARVILLE:
It was just so clear
that he was exceptionally
talented politician
from the kind of get-go.
How do you get the ideas
we develop in America
in the manufacturing jobs here?
There are literally...
CARVILLE:
His ability to adapt,
his ability to walk into a room,
to size up an issue,
to understand...
I've never seen a candidate,
I've never seen a human being
who, with the most
limited briefing,
can understand the dimensions,
the parameters,
the nuances of everything
of any kind of a policy
or political problem.
If we had a broad-based
national health policy,
it would never be in anyone's
interest not to hire you...
He could see six sides
to the Pentagon.
All right, Bill!
NARRATOR:
In a primary field crowded
with Democratic candidates,
Clinton's determination
and skill
quickly distinguished him
from his rivals.
His aides nicknamed him
after a legendary racehorse,
Secretariat.
You spent $200
on medication?
WOMAN:
Yes, $200 spent on medication.
KLEIN:
There was this famous instance
just before the New Hampshire
primary.
A woman started talking about
that she couldn't afford
the drugs that she needed
to survive.
And she started to cry.
And Clinton's reflex action
was to get down on his knees,
put his arms around her,
and he's crying, too.
CLINTON:
I'm really sorry.
It isn't right,
it isn't right.
MYERS:
The story that I heard
from people over and over was,
"For that one moment,
he looked me in the eye,
"he touched me on the arm,
he listened to my story,
and I felt like I was
the only person in the world."
And he did it over
and over and over.
And the only way
you can have that moment
over and over and over
is if you really are interested.
NARRATOR:
Throughout New Hampshire--
in union halls, truck stops
and diners--
Clinton heard stories
of depressed wages
and vanishing jobs,
as the state and the nation
struggled to emerge
from a recession.
CLINTON:
Ten years ago, we had the
highest wages in the world.
Now we're tenth,
and we're dropping.
What else do you think
we ought to do?
HAROLD ICKES:
He knew these people,
knew what they were thinking,
knew their concerns, and felt
that government in Washington,
in large measure, was just not
addressing those concerns.
NARRATOR:
The mostly white,
working-class voters
Clinton met in New Hampshire,
like those in his own state
of Arkansas,
had been fleeing the
Democratic Party for years.
HARRIS:
Bill Clinton knew that Democrats
were not going to regain
the presidency
until they re-established
a connection
with these middle-class
and lower-middle-class voters
who had been attracted
for various reasons
to Republican politicians
and to conservative ideas.
NARRATOR:
For nearly a decade,
as he rose through the ranks
of Democratic politics,
Clinton had been
honing a message
to win back these so-called
"Reagan Democrats."
DICK MORRIS:
The entire thrust of the
traditional Democratic Party
was based on entitlements
and endowments.
They would bestow money
on people.
Bill Clinton's
incredibly bold idea
was to change the grant
to a transaction--
"We'll give you something,
but we demand something back."
The way he would phrase it is,
"We'll give you opportunity
but you have to take
responsibility."
If you want the right
to receive welfare benefits,
you have to assume the
responsibility to get educated,
to have job training, and to go
to work if you can do it...
MICHAEL WALDMAN:
When he went out and said,
"We need opportunity for all,
but responsibility
from all Americans,"
that was different from what
Democrats had been saying.
NARRATOR:
Preaching his "New Democrat"
message in New Hampshire,
Clinton began to catch fire.
People say I'm not
a real Democrat
and I say I'm against brain-dead
politics in both parties.
NARRATOR:
By mid-January,
he'd pulled ahead
of his strongest competitors
and into the lead.
