[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1994, Book II)]
[November 4, 1994]
[Pages 1989-1990]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 1989]]


Interview With Ken Minyard and Roger Barkley of KABC Radio, Los Angeles, 
California
November 4, 1994

    Q. And now, ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States 
of America, President Bill Clinton. We wanted to make--you're probably 
very happy today, Mr. President, given the unemployment figures, and we 
thought bringing you on in this style would be appropriate.
    The President. Well, thank you very much.
    Q. You recognize that music, of course?
    The President. I do. That's what I played on ``Arsenio.''
    Q. That's right. That's right.
    The President. Now, I'm supposed to say, ``Great show,'' aren't I?
    Q. Oh, yes. Let's start from the beginning. Ladies and gentlemen, 
the President of the United States.
    The President. Great show, Ken and Barkley.
    Q. Oh, thank you very much.
    The President. I've got my lines down.
    Q. You did it fine.
    The President. You play my music, and I do your lines. It's great.
    Q. Yes, thank you very much. Mr. President, it's a pleasure 
certainly for us to be able to visit with you here. We were actually 
broadcasting this program from your Inauguration on the morning of 
January 20, 1991. We were in the big scaffolding thing that was set up 
alongside the Capitol building where all the photographers and other 
broadcasters were. And you waved at us, I think. That was a very nice 
thing.
    The President. 1993. Yes, that was great.

The Presidency

    Q. '93. Yes, '93. Excuse me, '91. 1993. Now, would you say as you 
look back on it, nearly 2 years after that day, that you maybe went into 
the office somewhat naive about the reality of being President of the 
United States?
    The President. What do you mean by that?
    Q. Well, that the magnificence of that moment and the anticipation 
of the 4 years to follow and, perhaps, 8, how tough it was going to be. 
And then suddenly the reality sets in that you're dealing with Haiti and 
the Middle East and all the things that have----
    The President. I think to some--I think I underestimated a couple of 
things. First of all, the difficulty of having to manage both a domestic 
and a foreign policy at the same time when both needed so much change, 
because we need to be strong at home and strong abroad and fighting for 
good jobs and strong families and safe streets at home and fighting for 
greater security and freedom and democracy abroad, that's something I 
underestimated.
    The other thing I underestimated was the extreme partisanship of the 
Republican congressional leadership which we now know from studies is 
the worst it's been since World War II. No President ever had to deal 
with that.
    Now, notwithstanding that, after the Congress went home, we learned 
that this was only the third time since World War II when the Congress 
supported the President more than 80 percent of the time. And so we were 
able to have a historic reduction in the deficit and to provide a 
dramatic increase in college loans for middle class people and pass the 
family leave law and the Brady bill and a dramatic crime bill and 
immunize the kids in the country who are under 2 by 1996. We did a lot 
of profoundly important things, but it was an extremely partisan and 
negative environment.
    I also underestimated the extent to which the communications in the 
country would continue to be so combative and negative. And I think that 
somehow unduly sours the American people when the truth is that, for all 
of our difficulties, this country's in better shape than it was 21 
months ago. We're growing jobs at 5 times the rate of the previous 4 
years. We've got over 5 million new jobs in 21 months. I mean, we're 
moving in the right direction.

President's Popularity

    Q. With those accomplishments and a slew of good economic 
indicators, it's got to--you've got to wonder, I would think, to say, 
``This is--we should be in great shape here; my popularity should be at 
an all-time high, and it's not.''
    Although, by the way, I should point out to you that Orange County 
Register this morning opens this way in a story: ``Who's the most 
popular politician these days in California? President Clinton.'' You 
emerged on top of all the politi-


[[Page 1990]]

cians. Pete Wilson, Governor Wilson, came in second.
    Q. In a poll in Orange County?
    Q. In Orange County Register and other media outlets.
    The President. Well, you know, for one thing, I think if you look at 
the time in which we live, the combative time in which we live and the 
frustrations people are going through, it's hard for any incumbent 
politician to be popular.
    Secondly, I have taken on a lot of tough issues in a very short 
period of time. And when you go through fights and you take on a lot of 
strong interest groups--and we had to take on tough interest groups to 
pass the economic plan, to pass the college loan plan, to pass the Brady 
bill, to pass the assault weapons ban, to try to deal with the health 
care issue--when you do these things, there is--it's also, while you're 
doing it, it can be very unsettling to people because all the news they 
get is about the combat, the conflict, the things that are going on.
    So I knew when I started this course that I had to keep my eye on 
what America would look like in the 21st century. And I had to be 
willing to have some ups and downs in popularity to try to solve the 
long-term problems of the country.
    I just want the American people to know that I have--every day I get 
up and go to work and do the best I can trying to increase their 
strength for the future, to give them good jobs and safe streets and 
strong families and to make us stronger in the world. And I think we are 
getting stronger. We're moving in the right direction. And that's my 
job.
    And I tell everybody at the White House, it's not our job to worry 
about our popularity, to worry about what the American people think of 
us every day. But we have to think of the American people every day. And 
in the end, I think the approval ratings will come out okay. But I've 
just got to get up here and try to solve these problems. They're not 
easy; they're not simple.
    And the only thing that I regret is that I have not been more 
successful in trying to dissipate some of this kind of cynical and 
negative atmosphere in which we operate today because the truth is, this 
is a very great country with enormous capacity to deal with our 
problems. We are making progress; we are moving forward. And we need to 
fight the temptation to be full of self doubt. You know, it just doesn't 
belong in this country.
    Q. What we'd, of course, like to talk to the President of the United 
States about--I know you're on a short schedule, and you're going to be 
coming out to California. The big issue we wanted to discuss is----
    The President. Yes, I'll be there today. I'm going to have a rally 
late this afternoon at City Hall.
    Q. That's right. Tonight, for Dianne Feinstein, right?
    The President. Yes.
    Q. But we also wanted to sometime tackle the issue of Don Imus 
versus Ken and Barkley, but we'll do that another time.
    The President. Well, you guys are doing pretty well, I think.
    Q. Yes, we are. We would hope, indeed, that we'd have an opportunity 
to talk to you again. Thank you, President Bill Clinton on the Ken and 
Barkley Company.
    The President. Thank you.

Note: The interview began at 10:44 a.m. The President spoke by telephone 
from the Holiday Inn in Duluth, MN. An interviewer referred to radio 
personality Don Imus.