Posted on 12/06/2001 12:47:02 AM PST by HAL9000
Though the mission of the Clinton Presidential Center will focus on building a better future, Bill Clinton said Wednesday that the library won't avoid the controversies that riddled his presidency when examining the past."Impeachment? Absolutely," Clinton said during an hour-long discussion with reporters. "One day we'll have some presidential historians who know something about what went on, who don't have such a vested interest in appearing on television.
"What I did was a matter of record, but what I want is the whole record out."
After Clinton broke ground on his $104 million presidential complex east of the River Market District, he went to the Old State House, where he first spoke with the History Channel's Roger Mudd and then met with local reporters.
He touched on several subjects, including the challenge of writing his memoirs, and expressed regret that U.S. soldiers died Wednesday in Afghanistan. Most questions focused on the future of the Clinton Presidential Center.
In past months Clinton received high-dollar offers to build his library elsewhere. The former president's graduating class from Georgetown University offered $30 million to move the planned facility to Anacostia, a part of Washington notorious for crime and urban blight.
"I was offered maybe even more to take it to New York," Clinton said.
But in the end, the big money and the delays over acquiring the Little Rock site didn't matter.
"I always wanted it to be here," Clinton said. "If it hadn't been for the people here, I never would have become president. I think that it's better to have these national assets dispersed throughout the country."
Far removed from the Oval Office, Clinton said he is having a good time writing his memoirs, but structuring the outlines and recalling events is more difficult than he expected. And his memory isn't as sharp as it once was, he noted.
"The project is under way," Clinton said of his writing, for which he is reported to be paid more than $10 million. "I've got all my records together. I've got an elaborate outline. I've got a system so that every time I remember something when I go somewhere, I write it down."
When he's finishing writing about his eight years as president, will he ever run for public office again? Perhaps for governor of Arkansas?
"I can't imagine that," Clinton replied.
And what about President Bush's recent executive order to deny public access to thousands of presidential papers despite a law that mandates they be open 12 years after a president leaves office?
"I'm comfortable with the current law and I intend to follow it," Clinton said. "I'm not criticizing. ... I'm just saying what I think the law ought to be, and people can do what they want."
Clinton said he wouldn't comment much on Bush's plans to try Osama bin Laden and other suspected terrorists in military tribunals rather than in open court. Some fear that such a system, intended to protect national security, eventually will erode freedoms.
"I just think that while this thing is going on, you should all comment about that and say whatever you believe about that. But I don't think I should," Clinton told reporters. "It's not the right thing for me to be doing right now. Maybe after some time passes, I'll have something to say about this."
Through his presidential library, scheduled to open in 2004, Clinton said he wants to pursue several initiatives from his administration, such as racial and religious reconciliation, the fight against the AIDS epidemic in Africa, and economic empowerment.
He's working on many of these goals now, he said, noting he's already focusing on New York City's economic recovery as well as India's.
"I have done a lot of work in India through a foundation I set up with the Indian-American community ... to help rebuild western India after the earthquake," Clinton said. "I hope [it] will change the future for all of the parts of India."
Meanwhile, from his work with former South African President Nelson Mandela to start an AmeriCorps program in that country to his efforts to promote racial tolerance, Clinton said he keeps busy.
"In January the [Clinton library] foundation may have its first religious reconciliation conference," Clinton said. He didn't say where the conference would be held, but it would focus on Islam and the modern world in light of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Former presidents are among an elite group that has unique opportunities and resources to reach out and help people, Clinton said.
"So I'm not going to wait until this library opens."
Copyright © , Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved.
No, Bill, you sorry son of a bitch, you don't.
As you know, the Clinton Library-Apartment has a scenic view of the Arkansas River.
So on the day it opens, we rent a big party barge and mount a giant protest sign on the side and cruise up and down the river where everybody will see it from the library.
You decide what to put on the sign.
Perhaps they are X rated and he plans to sell them to the Playboy Channel????? LOL
It will likely prove to be very appropriate during the 2002 congressional elections.
No one under 18 admitted due to adult content.
Here's one I saw yesterday on another forum:
An old hillbilly farmer had a wife who nagged him unmercifully. From morning til night (and sometimes later), she was always complaining about something. The only time he got any relief was when he was out plowing with his old mule. He tried to plow a lot. One day, when he was out plowing his wife brought him lunch in the field. He drove the old mule into the shade, sat down on a stump, and began to eat his lunch. Immediately, his wife began haranguing him again. Complain, nag, nag; it just went on and on.
All of a sudden, the old mule lashed out with both hind feet; caught her smack in the back of the head. Killed her dead on the spot.
At the funeral several days later, the minister noticed something rather odd. When a woman mourner would approach the old farmer, he would listen for a minute, then nod his head in agreement; but when a man mourner approached him, he would listen for a minute, then shake his head in disagreement.
This was so consistent, the minister decided to ask the old farmer about it. So after the funeral, the minister spoke to the old farmer, and asked him why he nodded his head and agreed with the women, but always shook his head and disagreed with all the men.
The old farmer said, "Well, the women would come up and say something about how nice my wife looked, or how pretty her dress was, so I'd nod my head in agreement."
"And what about the men?" the minister asked.
"They wanted to know if the mule was for sale."
But we all know that they won't include that the Senate violated their oath of office and the Constitution by allowing Clinton to remain as President. The Constitution clearly states that upon impeachment the remedy is removal from office.
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