we interrupt your regular program for a
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
Peter the president make another attempt
to say he's sorry about what he's caused
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Bill Clinton had come into office with
notions of an heroic presidency to
inscribe his name in history alongside
FDR and JFK good afternoon
but on the afternoon of December 11th
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 are my family quite
simply I gave in to my shame
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
gonna give you this election back and if
you 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
til the last dog dies how many second
chances right how many second chances is
any one person deserve you know
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 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 the central repetitive
theme of Bill Clinton's life is lost in
recovery never count him out
because always he will find his way back
I am tonight
where it all began for me I still
believe in a place called hope
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[Applause]
where does it come from the
unwillingness to quit on self on the
things he believes in on the people he
cared about he disappoints him 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
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
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
he would emerge from the political back
waters of Arkansas like a country
tornado one newspaper wrote a political
natural unlike anyone had seen in a
generation 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 it
was just so clear dead he was
exceptionally talented politician from
the kind of get go says how do you get
the ideas we develop in America in the
manufacturing jobs there is ability to
adapt
there's ability to walk into a room to
size up initiative to understand I've
now seen a candidate and I've seen a
human being who who with the most
limited briefing can understand the
dimensions to parameters the nuances of
everything of any kind of a policy or
political problem if we had a broad
based on policy
was not to hire you because he could see
six hours of Pentagon's 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 he spent
$200 on medication yes 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 to
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 if you
really are interested
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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 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 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
I knew the Democrats were not going to
regain the presidency until they
reestablished 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
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 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 that 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 do it have job printing and to
go to work if you can do it and when he
went out and said we need opportunity
for all but responsibility from all
Americans that was different from what
Democrats have been saying
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 bright that
politics in both parties by mid-january
he pulled ahead of his strongest
competitors and into the lead
you