Usually, I didn’t even read what the Republicans were saying about me, and if a harsh comment came to my attention I tried to ignore it. For the first time, some polls showed me in the lead. I had no interest in hedging my bets, and instructed Tony Lake to draft a statement of strong support. Finally, the Justice Department said it had no objections and would lean toward granting the pardon if it advanced our foreign policy interests.
Whether I had a character problem or not, I sure had a reputation problem, one I had been promised by the White House more than six months earlier. I paid tribute to Hillary, who had been working on the issue for more than twenty years, and to perhaps the most ardent supporter of the reforms in the House, Tom DeLay, himself an adoptive parent. We decided to reach out to specific constituencies and the general public directly, and to keep pushing the issues. I could understand why right-wingers like Rush Limbaugh, Bill Dannemeyer, Jerry Falwell, and a paper like theWashington Times would say such things.
Join the newsletter to receive news, updates, new products and freebies in your inbox.