NEWSWEEK: You spent four years at the president’s side. Did you see any inappropriate behavior? STEPHANOPOULOS: I accept, looking back, that maybe I just did not want to know. I never saw him in a compromising position with a woman. I saw him flirt, but I just couldn’t imagine it would go beyond that. The consequences were too great. He flirted with everybody, with audiences, with little kids, with elderly women. I just thought it was a substitute.
Are you proud you worked for the president? It’s a question I still struggle with. We accomplished, and he has accomplished, more than I ever thought humanly possible. But he lost the battle with himself, tarnished his presidency and all of us associated with it. If I knew everything then that I know now, of course I wouldn’t [have worked for him]. But he’s been a good steward, and I think he’s been a good president, despite these horrible flaws.
Is he fit to be president? He’s too fit to be removed, but knowing what we know now, I don’t think he’d be fit enough to be elected.
One of the things I loved best about Clinton was his definition of character: get up every day and do a little bit better than you did the day before. He struggled to do that. And then he just shut down. I hate to agree with Dick Morris, but it is like he’s two different people. The shame of the whole Clinton experience is that it was a story of a man who confronted his weaknesses and who became a better president every day. And then he threw it all away.
Do you feel the president was appropriately punished? Having your grand-jury testimony played before the whole nation and knowing this episode will be the filter through which you will always be seen is a severe punishment. I think there are times when he is alone at night and he knows the gravity of what he has done. People say he seems down a lot.
I was for censure because I think we need to deal with this problem of a president who did not fully live up to the oath of office yet did not commit, in my mind, an impeachable offense.
What do you think will happen now? In some ways, the battle against impeachment was the glue that was holding a lot of the White House together. People will now leave. My guess is that nothing will happen legislatively. It would have been hard without the scandal, but now it seems almost impossible. There’s at least a chance this could create a productive atmosphere; the desire of all to accomplish something could create an unusual last two years. But it’s just a chance, and a remote one at that. Here’s the long-shot play: Al Gore picks Hillary Clinton as his running mate. They win and Bill Clinton has to serve as second spouse. Now, that would be something.
