[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 138 (Monday, September 30, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S12031-S12033]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          THE PRESIDENT AT 50

 Mr. LIEBERMAN. Mr. President, I rise today to acknowledge a 
recent piece of journalism that I believe has captured the true essence 
of political reporting. On August 1, 1996, an article was published in 
the Wall Street Journal by Trude B. Feldman in which she relayed 
excerpts from her exclusive one-on-one interview with President Bill 
Clinton a few days before his 50th birthday. In a time when civility 
and respect are often pushed aside by personal attacks and rumor and 
innuendo, Ms. Feldman has proven herself to be a journalist who has 
retained an exemplary style of reporting. Her article, entitled ``The 
President at 50'', sheds light on the President's personality in novel 
ways. Ms. Feldman presents an articulate and important account of the 
President, drawing from him new insights into the policies and politics 
of our day. In the end, Ms. Feldman produces a proud piece of 
journalistic work.
  Mr. President, I ask that the text of this article be printed in the 
Record.
  The article follows:


                          the president at 50

                         (by Trude B. Feldman)

       This month marks the 50th anniversary of the birth of the 
     president of the United States. And today is the 50th 
     anniversary of the Fulbright Scholarship Program, initiated 
     by William Jefferson Clinton's mentor, who inspired the 
     president to make a genuine contribution to global 
     understanding. Eighteen days after President Truman signed 
     Sen. J. William Fulbright's legislation into law, the boy who 
     would become the 42nd U.S. President was born, one month 
     ahead of schedule, by Caesarean section.
       In an exclusive interview for his 50th birthday, President 
     Clinton spoke of the two milestones, recalling what he had 
     learned from his first political role model.
       ``Senator Fulbright had a profound impact on the way I now 
     view the world,'' the President told me. ``He taught that 
     education is

[[Page S12032]]

     the solution to most of the problems of mankind; and he also 
     cautioned against the arrogance of power.
       ``It was two weeks after Hiroshima when he sponsored the 
     international education program that has affected the 
     direction of policy in country after country. He changed our 
     world forever, and for the better. And my goal is to continue 
     on the path that he envisioned.''
       Sitting in the oval office for the one-on-one interview, 
     the president was pensive as he expounded on the legacy of 
     Fulbright's vision for the baby boomer generation. Mr. 
     Clinton also spoke of his spiritual journey as well as his 
     achievements, goals, and regrets. He addressed the character 
     issue; explained his views on the economy; poignantly 
     recalled the death of Vincent Foster; and reflected on what 
     stirs within him as he reaches his half-century.
       Excerpts from the hour-long interview follow:
       Ms. Feldman: Is this milestone a turning point for you?
       President Clinton: Yes, in many ways. I feel grateful to 
     reach my 50th anniversary on Earth, to have my health, my 
     family and this job at the time when I feel most able--
     mentally, physically, and emotionally--to do it. But I feel a 
     sort of sea change. Being 50 gives me more yesterdays than 
     tomorrows, and I'll now begin to think more about the long-
     term implications as well as the consequences of what I do. 
     Since I've been president, I've become steadily more 
     philosophical, but not less optimistic.
       Q. Is there anything about yourself that you'd like to 
     change as you turn 50?
       A. Oh sure, lots of things. I'd like to develop more of 
     what my wife calls the ``discipline of gratitude.'' I'd like 
     to be able to roll with the punches more. I've become much 
     calmer in the face of buffeting events in the last few years, 
     and I hope this continues so the highs and lows of events 
     don't throw me off course.
       Everybody has some regrets, but I've been so fortunate that 
     I feel I've gotten a better deal in life than I deserved.
       Q. What is your most significant accomplishment in the past 
     50 years; and in the last four years?
       A. The most significant accomplishment in my life was 
     convincing Hillary Rodham to marry me. It changed everything. 
     There is no question about that.
       The most significant accomplishment in the last four years 
     is that I have largely succeeded in changing the way we think 
     about ourselves and our future. By doing this, I helped to 
     make it possible to make substantive changes. That's more 
     important than any specific bill I passed.
       Q. This is the third anniversary of Vincent Foster's death, 
     so may I ask if you ever think about whether you could have 
     helped avoid that tragedy by talking out his problems with 
     him?
       A. Absolutely, I think about that. We knew each other since 
     I was four years old. Vince worked daily with Hillary [in a 
     law firm] in Little Rock. But he was always so quiet and 
     unassuming . . . that months would go by when we wouldn't 
     have any contact. So his persona made it more difficult to 
     see that he was profoundly depressed. When he worked here [as 
     White House deputy counsel] I knew he had been under a lot of 
     stress. I called him the night before he killed himself and 
     asked if he wanted to come back and watch a movie. He said he 
     was already at home and didn't want to leave his wife and 
     return to the White House.
       Then, he said, `` I want to talk to you about something.'' 
     And I said, ``I want to talk to you about some things.''
       That was Monday. I told him I was busy on Tuesday and asked 
     to meet him on Wednesday. He said, ``Sure,'' and sounded very 
     calm. I don't know whether, at that time, he had already 
     decided to kill himself. And I don't know whether I could 
     have helped.
       I hated that I was insufficiently aware that he was going 
     through that kind of pain, and I feel very bad that I missed 
     it. You know, at that time, [ July 1993] we were all getting 
     beat up very badly. Everybody was sort of bruised and also 
     amazed that the press coverage was the way it was. Still, I 
     showed up everyday for work and I thought that's what Vince 
     was doing. We thought we would work our way through it.
       I still remember the last time I saw Vince. He was standing 
     with his hands folded, over there at the back, to the right 
     [Mr. Clinton pointed to the Rose Garden] during the ceremony 
     when I nominated Louis Freeh as FBI director. Vince was 
     pleased about the selection. He thought it would be well-
     received in the country and in Congress. [That was on Tuesday 
     morning, July 20. He was found dead that evening.]
       Q. Do you agree with Vince Foster's alleged suicide note, 
     in which he scribbled that ruining people is considered sport 
     in Washington, D.C.
       A. Well, Vince was a proud person. He was a successful 
     lawyer and everyone who knew him respected him. He was a good 
     and highly ethical person, whether or not you agreed with his 
     politics. And to get the kind of licking from the editorial 
     pages of one newspaper bewildered him.
       In retrospect, I didn't handle it well. I told him the 
     attacks should not worry him so, but he must have been taking 
     them more seriously than I knew.
       Apparently, this is what happened to Adm. [Jerry M.] 
     Boorda. There are other victims of smear campaigns who would 
     not go that far. But they are still left with lifetime scars 
     because of mean-spirited attacks.
       It is particularly painful because they know many of these 
     attacks register with the public even though the attackers 
     often have no reason to attack. The smear campaigns have 
     gotten too personal.
       You know, if I win re-election, I hope to find ways to 
     minimize the destruction and the unfair, subtle personal 
     attacks because our country needs more civility.
       Q. How concerned are you about the decline in civility in 
     the nation today?
       A. Very much so and I'm constantly trying to do something 
     about this loss of civility and the impact it has--dividing 
     us one against the other. Too often the debate goes, ``If you 
     disagree with me, you must be no good.'' Or,''If you can't 
     prove yourself innocent of whatever I decide to charge you 
     with today, you must be guilty.''
       Q. Given the relentless attempts at character 
     assassination, why do you want a second term here in the Oval 
     Office?
       A. Because I can divorce those attempts from this job. They 
     are called character assassination. There is nothing any 
     person can say or do that can affect my character one bit. My 
     character will be judged by what I do and will be judged 
     ultimately by my God, not by any of these people who 
     criticize me. They may assassinate my reputation, but they 
     can't lay a hand on my character. Whether it's good or bad or 
     somewhere in between, their ability to influence it or impact 
     on it is nil.
       Q. How has your presidency influenced your spiritual life?
       A. It has tested my spiritual life. But at times the 
     presidency has been good for my spiritual life because I 
     realize I was not smart enough to make a lot of these 
     decisions on my own. I realize that no matter how hard I work 
     or what kind of brain God gave me, I cannot think my way 
     through or calculate entirely some of these decisions. I have 
     to feel what is the right thing to do and do it. And to do 
     that, I have to be spiritually grounded. If I go through a 
     week when I neglect my spiritual life, I can feel it. Little 
     alarms go off and I try to get back in my groove.
       I also spend a lot of time thinking about the relationship 
     of personal morality to public purpose and public life. When 
     I was younger I read Reinhold Niebuhr's `` Moral Man and 
     Immoral Society'' and Max Weber's ``Politics as a Vocation.'' 
     They both had a profound impact on my feel for the moral, 
     spiritual challenges to people involved in politics.
       Q. Turning to the economy, is the 2.5% growth of the GNP 
     enough to satisfy the needs of the American people?
       A. We would be better off if we could grow a little faster. 
     If we grow at 2.8% to 3%, for a period of three or four 
     years, perhaps we could bring more private sector growth and 
     job opportunities to isolated inner city areas and rural 
     areas; and we could see genuine increases in incomes for all 
     groups. Then we wouldn't have this continuing inequality of 
     income that we've seen in the last few years.
       But the truth is, no one knows what the optimum rate of 
     economic growth without inflation is. The only thing I tried 
     to do in dealing with the Federal Reserve was to show that I 
     would be responsible in getting the deficit down, but I 
     didn't want them to get in the way of economic growth. 
     What I hoped we could do is develop a relationship where I 
     did not interfere with the Fed's decisions, that they 
     would be governed by a philosophy that basically would 
     move on the evidence, and not on some old theory about how 
     the economy operates. With so much global competition and 
     technological change, it's possible you can grow faster 
     today without inflation than you could 30 years ago. We 
     just do not know and we need to find out.
       Q. Can you explain why you were unable to keep you 1992 
     campaign commitment for a middle class tax cut?
       A. First, it's important to make the point that we made a 
     serious down payment on it. We gave 15 million families a big 
     tax cut through the Earned Income Tax Credit, which today is 
     worth about $1,000 in lower taxes to a family of four with an 
     income of $28,000 or less.
       We stopped there because, frankly, after I won the 
     presidency it was obvious to me that the deficit was bigger 
     than I thought it was going to be, that getting it down would 
     be tougher and that we had to get a hold of it. I believed 
     that if I could cut the deficit enough, we would get interest 
     rates down and middle class people would be better off 
     because more jobs would be created and they could then 
     refinance their homes and get cheaper car payments and better 
     interest rates on their credit card payments.
       In fact, that's true. Since I've been president, eight 
     million Americans have refinanced their home mortgages at 
     lower rates. So I think I made the right decision. But it was 
     a difficult one because I wanted to do even more. Now, for 
     the last year I've been pushing for a targeted middle class 
     tax cut dedicated primarily to education--the $1,500 credit 
     for people to go to community colleges for two years; a 
     $10,000 deduction for the cost of college tuition; an IRA for 
     people that would permit them to withdraw without penalty for 
     the cost of a college education, a first-time home or a 
     family medical emergency.
       I hope these middle class tax initiatives with be adopted 
     by Congress, and I believe they will--either before or after 
     the election. Then, we'll have a fairer tax system, but we'll 
     also have a much more healthy economy than if I had 
     sacrificed deficit reduction in 1993 to cut taxes more.

[[Page S12033]]

       Q. If you are re-elected, do you expect any tax cuts?
       A. Yes, the ones I just mentioned--unless we get them done 
     before Election Day. If we get them done this term, in the 
     context of the balanced budget, I would not expect 
     significant tax cuts in the next term because we must 
     continue until we balance the budget. But we already have 
     enough savings identified to balance the budget and have a 
     middle class tax cut targeted to education and child-rearing.
       Q. Your reply indicates you expect to be re-elected. Do 
     you?
       A. I'm hopeful about winning the election, but I'm not 
     overconfident by any means. As we do this interview the polls 
     look good, but it is forever until the election. I am working 
     hard as president, and also to be ready for the campaign, but 
     I'm not overconfident. I believe we'll be successful because 
     of our emphasis on the future.
       Q. Speaking of the campaign, how do you compare your style 
     with Bob Dole's?
       A. Bob Dole is not like me; we're very different. Also, he 
     has never lost an election in Kansas and I lost two [in 
     Arkansas.]
       Q. In your estimation, what are his strengths and his 
     weaknesses as a campaigner?
       A. I think Sen. Dole is a good campaigner, a very tough and 
     effective one, and I expect him to do rather well. I'm also 
     impressed with his patriotism. He was severely wounded in 
     World War Two and could have become indifferent and bitter 
     but he became a fine senator and public servant. You know, I 
     think it's healthy to say positive things about competitors. 
     I don't mind Senator Dole saying anything he wants to about 
     how he thinks I was wrong on the budget or the Brady Bill or 
     about any issue on which he disagrees with me. I look forward 
     to a vigorous debate.

                          ____________________