Bill Clinton's $165 million presidential library — with 80 million pages of presidential records, 79,000 museum objects and almost two million photographs, more material than any president thus far — opens today in Little Rock and a host of notables including the former president, Sen. Clinton, President Bush, and former Presidents Carter and Bush will speak. Bono and the Edge will provide musical entertainment and Air Force F-16s will rattle the windows and 30,000 invited guests with a flyover.
Take a virtual tour of the William J. Clinton Presidential Center
here.
In conjunction with the opening, Peter Jennings interviews Mr. Clinton in a special edition of "Primetime Live," airing at 9:00 pm ET. Some excerpts from their conversation:
- On Iraq:
"I think that even I underestimated the level of opposition, at least given the troop strength we had there. You know, my position on the Iraq War was different from almost everybody else's that I've heard talk. I supported giving the president the authority to take action against Saddam Hussein if he did not cooperate with the U.N. inspectors, or if he was found to have had weapons of mass destruction he wouldn't give up. I did believe that the administration made a mistake going to war when they did, and that's what alienated the world. Most Americans still haven't focused on this."
"We as America, we don't need to look like an occupying power. We don't need to be trying to rig the outcome. But if they're capable of both self-government and security, then I think, in the end, it could still be a net plus for the region. And that is what I think our goal ought to be. You know, I don't follow it on a day-to-day basis. I'm not there. I'm concerned about it."
Article comments
1 - RJ
I gotta say, now that he is safely out of office, I can sorta admire former President Clinton, to an extent.
He governed as a moderate, which is a good thing. Of course, he was also corrupt and personally amoral. And his foreign policy was horrible.
But, he did sign welfare reform (after two vetoes), he did balance the budget (after the GOP took control of the Congress), and he is one smart dude.
If Democrats want to win the White House again, they need to follow the WJC model. They need to stop nominating cold, arrogant, elitist Left-wing assholes like Al Gore and John F. Kerry.
But where have all the likable, reasonable Democrats gone?
2 - boomcrashbaby
But where have all the likable, reasonable Democrats gone?
boomworld? It's got universal health care and all the free pizza you could ever want.
cold, arrogant, elitist Left-wing assholes
Change the word Left to Right and you've got Bush.
3 - bhw
But where have all the likable, reasonable Democrats gone?
RJ, when we had a likeable, reasonable Democrat in the Whitehouse, the Republicans did everything they could do to get him OUT of there, rather than work with him.
4 - Eric Olsen
RJ, glad to see the ice melting regarding Old Bill, and I generally agree with your assessment, although the "corruption" stuff never panned out
5 - RJ
Pardons to wanted fugitives in exchange for cash, Eric.
6 - RJ
Me: "cold, arrogant, elitist Left-wing assholes"
BCB: "Change the word Left to Right and you've got Bush."
He's hardly cold. And I'm not sure "elitist" applies, though he certainly comes from "elite" stock. But arrogant? Yeah, I'll go with that.
7 - RJ
"RJ, when we had a likeable, reasonable Democrat in the Whitehouse, the Republicans did everything they could do to get him OUT of there, rather than work with him."
I won't disagree. Of course, there were valid REASONS for wanting to get him out, but your larger point holds...
8 - boomcrashbaby
Bush is willing to write second class citizenship for millions of families into the U.S. Constitution. You and I define cold differently.
9 - RJ
"Bush is willing to write second class citizenship for millions of families into the U.S. Constitution."
And Kerry was fine with this, as long as it was not federal policy.
Who did you vote for, again? :)
10 - boomcrashbaby
I voted for the best chance I had to keep the Constitution from being desecrated and to keep millions of kids from growing up in a society that tells them the family they have is inferior. I voted for the best chance there was available.
11 - RJ
Why not Nader?
12 - Steve S
I said best chance.