A few hours after the Senate acquitted him of impeachment charges Friday, President Clinton made what he hopes is his last apology to the American people.
“I want to say again to the American people how profoundly sorry I am for what I said and did to trigger these events and the great burden they have imposed on the Congress and the American people,” Clinton said.
Standing in the Rose Garden, dressed in a somber blue suit and displaying no hint of pleasure–let alone gloating–Clinton emphasized his contrition and regret as he thanked his supporters and appealed to the nation for reconciliation and renewal.
Unlike some of his past major statements on the scandal, the president made no mention of his political enemies, nor of his belief that the criminal investigation of his activities and his subsequent impeachment were part of a partisan effort to destroy him.
This time there were no fellow Democrats surrounding him outside the White House, as they did in a symbolic show of political support on the day last December when the House voted to impeach him. Nor did his wife Hillary Rodham Clinton accompany him to face the nation.
This time the president said he was humbled and grateful for Americans’ continuing support. “Now I ask all Americans, and I hope all Americans here in Washington and throughout our land, will rededicate ourselves to the work of serving our nation and building our future together,” Clinton said. “This can be and this must be a time of reconciliation and renewal for America.”
White House aides had to persuade Clinton to read the short statement himself. Even though Clinton has built and maintained his popularity to a large extent through his ability to communicate over television, he was reluctant to face the cameras on this occasion and told a top aide Thursday night that he might just issue the statement in writing.
“Throughout the last year, every time he has spoken on this subject he has been hammered about not being contrite enough or about apologizing too much and on and on,” an aide said. “He felt the situation was just impossible.”
Impossible or not, Clinton went ahead with it. He walked from the Oval Office to the Rose Garden with his head down and keeping a slow and measured pace.
Before each Rose Garden event, White House officials carefully assess how close they want reporters to be to Clinton, and Friday they positioned reporters very close, so they could shout questions to him.
As soon as Clinton finished his brief address and turned to walk back to the Oval Office, a reporter shouted: “In your heart, sir, can you forgive and forget?”
Clinton stopped, dramatically turned back and stood behind the lectern once again.
“I believe any person who asks for forgiveness has to be prepared to give it,” he said quietly.
He turned once again and when a reporter asked him if he felt vindicated, this time Clinton kept walking.
Clinton spent less than two minutes before the cameras, in contrast to Dec. 19, when the White House brought out House Democrats, Vice President Al Gore and the first lady in a staged show of support on the South Lawn following his impeachment. That display angered Republicans who, together with some Democrats, urged Clinton not to cheer his Senate acquittal.
“On Thursday night, he was ambivalent about giving the speech himself,” an aide said, “but when it was over, he felt good about it.”
Not good enough to gloat or even celebrate, however, the aide hastened to add.
Clinton’s spokesman, Joe Lockhart, delivered the official line to reporters after Clinton had finished speaking.
“I think, given the circumstances of this matter that’s gone on for this long, we can be relieved it’s over, but there’s really nothing to celebrate,” he said. “There has been damage here to our institutions. And I think the president spoke to working hard and rededicating ourselves to repair any damage that’s been done.”
Clinton pointedly did not watch the Senate vote Friday, staying in the private residence portion of the White House instead, working on his address and working out in the gymnasium.
After he was acquitted on the first article of impeachment, his chief of staff, John Podesta, called him from the West Wing to tell him the vote and to identify the 10 Republicans who broke ranks and voted to acquit.
After the second article failed on a 50-50 vote, Podesta made another call and then at 1:15 p.m., Podesta walked over to the residence, where Clinton had been talking to Mrs. Clinton and her mother, Dorothy Rodham.
At 2:15 p.m., the president made the short outdoor walk from the residence to the West Wing, where he met with Podesta, deputy chief of staff Steve Richetti, senior aide Doug Sosnik, senior adviser Paul Begala and speechwriter Michael Waldman.
There, Clinton read them the short address he had “doodled”–in the words of one aide–the night before, and they made brief suggestions and encouraged Clinton to give the address himself on television.
At 2:38 p.m. Clinton delivered the address, and at 3 p.m. Podesta assembled the White House staff in the Roosevelt Room and read an e-mail from Clinton that was considerably longer than his public address in the Rose Garden.
“The past year has been especially difficult for you,” Clinton said in the message. “I know that my actions and the events they triggered have made your work even harder. For that, I am profoundly sorry. In all of this, under the most extraordinary of circumstances, you never lost sight of our first obligation–to serve the people of our nation. For that I am profoundly grateful.”
Clinton concluded by saying: “Your dedication and loyalty have meant more to me than you can ever know.”
Clinton spent the rest of the day calling senators to thank them, meeting with his legal staff to express his gratitude and getting briefed by his national security team on his upcoming trip to Mexico.
Lockhart also promised that Clinton would try to heal the breaches between him and the Republicans. “He will work hard; he will reach out across party lines,” Lockhart said. “And we’re very confident that we’re going to get a lot done this year.”
“There’s no great high or low from a day like today, except relief that it’s over and we can all move on to, hopefully, more interesting subjects,” Lockhart said.
Outside the White House gates, small groups of people came and went throughout the day. When the White House legal staff exited on its way to lunch, One Brooks, 49, a crisis intervention counselor in Washington, called out “Well done! Well done! Well done!” and applauded loudly.
“Every day I have lived through this process has been like `Friday the 13th,’ ” she said later. “I’m so glad it’s over.”
