Peter Baker:
Well, Clinton took the approach of being above it all. That's the image he wanted to project to the country. He was focused on the people's business. He wasn't going to get down in the dirt with all these other people who are obsessed with scandal.
And he tried to, therefore, basically shove it off to the side, in effect. He wasn't going to dignify it, if you will, with being too obsessed by it in public.
Behind the scenes, of course, he was obsessed by it. He was consumed by it. He was filled with rage and grievance and anger and unhappiness and resentment. He was so absorbed by it, that people would leave meetings with him and say it wasn't — it was like he wasn't even there.
One of his aides during a trip to the Middle East when he in — I think in Gaza trying to negotiate Middle East peace between the Palestinians and the Israelis noticed — over his shoulder, they noticed the president writing on his notepad: "Focus on your job. Focus on your job."
He was trying very hard to project this idea of a president who was unaffected. But, in fact, he was, as any person, I suppose, would be, quite consumed by it in private.
Now, the difference between him and the other two presidents is, he was very popular at the time. So he had a wellspring of public support. His numbers were above 60 percent approval rating throughout the entire investigation by Ken Starr and the House impeachment and Senate trial.
In fact, it went up, not down, the day after the impeachment vote in the House. It went up to 73 percent. So he had that sort of basic political base to work from that other presidents didn't have.
But behind the scenes, of course, it was an all-consuming thing for him.
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