Clinton in control

WASHINGTON, MARCH 20: In his first full-fledged solo press conference in nearly a year, President Bill Clinton on Friday went over the me...

WASHINGTON, MARCH 20: In his first full-fledged solo press conference in nearly a year, President Bill Clinton on Friday went over the media to reach out to the American people to show that he8217;s very much in control despite the sex scandal that stained his presidency.

In a remarkable one-hour event at the White House, it wasn8217;t so much what Clinton said as the way he said it that had the pundits talking. He fielded 24 questions from a tough and unsparing American media, and while not one of them mentioned Monica Lewinsky by name, the sub-text was unmistakable: his moral and ethical foibles and what he feels about them now. Clinton smiled and joked his way through the event telling the American people 8212; the press conference was nationally televised 8212; that he is too busy at his job to dwell on the mistakes of his past or the grievances of his foes.

One pointed question, by a reporter from Fox television news, was tellingly phrased: Many young Americans learn the importance of telling the truth based on anallegory about George Washington saying 8212; I cannot tell a lie. What do you think your legacy will be about lying and how important do you think it is to tell the truth especially under oath?

Clinton appeared to bristle momentarily before smiling and saying he thought young people will learn from his experience that even presidents have to do that tell the truth and that there are consequences if you don8217;t. He then went on to edgily and defensively suggest that against the one lie he told 8220;there are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times when the records will show that I did not abuse my authority as President, that I was truthful with the American people.8221;

Hard-nosed reporters even questioned him about the state of his marriage amid rumours that First Lady Hillary Clinton was planning to leave him and the idea of running for Senate from New York was connected to their marital problems. 8220;I think we are working hard. We love each other very much, and we are working at it,8221; he said in a briefcomment about their marriage.

But he held forth about Hillary Clinton running for office, heartily endorsed her saying she would make a 8220;magnificent Senator.8221; He said though that he did not have a clue whether she would run and 8220;the people she8217;s talking to must know more than I do.8221; Reporters parsed his answers for clues to the state of the union, wondering whether this meant that Hillary Clinton was taking the plunge without consulting her husband. The President also brushed off a question from the perennially in-your-face reporter Sam Donaldson of ABC about the rape charges by Juanita Broaddrick, saying that his attorney had answered the question denying the charges and his attorney speaks for him. He himself had decided he owed to the American people 100 per cent of his time and to focus on their business.

While much of the press conference was about domestic issues and his presidency, reporters also questioned him closely about the theft of nuclear secrets by China. One television reporter saidhis network was reporting that China had stolen technology for ElecroMagneticPulse weapons from several US labs during Clinton8217;s first term and the administration was aware of it. Was Clinton personally aware of this? The President fudged the answer on that one, saying 8220;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.8221;

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Clinton also laid the ground at the press conference for possible air strikes against Serbian forces in and around Kosovo. He said the Serbs had already crossed a threshold that would justify NATO bombing and air strikes which is expected to begin shortly.

While there has been the usual debate here about how relevant the Kosovo situation is for the US to get into what could be a quagmire, Clinton pressed for involvement suggesting that if the US stayed out it could lead to wider fighting in Europe and threaten American interests.

8220;Make no mistake8230; if we and our allies do not have thewill to act, there will be more massacres. In dealing with the aggressors in the Balkans, hesitation is a license to kill,8221; he warned.