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THE WHITE .. HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Internal Use on}.. y
March 18; 1994
AN INTERVIEW OF THE FIRST LADY
CONDUCTED BY PAT O'BRIEN
Q
(Inaudible) ?
.
,
MRS. CLINTON: . Well, thank you.
I feel ·bad. ,I
mean, most people are being very supportive and kind of
bewildered about this whole deal.
Q
(Inau~ible)?
MRS. CLINTON: ,Well, I must say that it, has been
heartbreaking to b¢ :thrust into the mi,ddle of accusations and
a.ttacksthat, in some ways, undermine. my integrity. It's
just be~n a v~ry.painful experience .. I've never gone through
anything like this before. Don't really understand why this
,is being done at this time and don~.t even understand why the
atta6ks are .given ~ny credibilit~jcsince.they are so' often
groundless.
Q
in some
(Inaudible)?'
MRS. CLINTON: Right. I mean, it's broken my heart
I've been very saddened by it .
ways~
.Q
(Inauqible)?
MRS. CLINTON:
Q
Mm-hmm.
,
;
(Inaudible)?
MRS. ,CLINTON: No.; Well, I think .that for whatever
combination of reasons got us to this point, I have to .look
at it from a couple of different .perspe'ctives. I still have
responsibili:ties to myself., as a woman, and to my husband, as
his wife, ,and to my daughter, as her mother, and to my family
and my friends, and to the people who ,work for me. SO"Ifeel
the need to be very positive ~bout all of the things we're
doing and take all' my other responsibilities. seriously. .
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Q
(Inaud:ibl~)i·
MRS. CLINTON: .·Yes. You know, . I feel that most
women .I know haye tp' juggle five o.r six different things at
one time. I'mean, women may be 'having prbblemsat work or
. problems .in 'il relationship or heaith problems, but they're
still the ones that have to get up and~ youknow~ get people
off to school. and, you know, li~ten ·to their husbands and
deal with their aging parents arid all of those things.
,
Q
.
(Inaudible)?
,
MRS. CLINTON: That's right.. So I think this has
certainly reinforced' in.me what I believe is the fundamental
obl,ig~tions I have.
Q
(Inau4ible) ?
MRS. CLINTON:'- ijo. I just came from a briefing for
about 40 reporters ,f:r;om OklahomCi·and Nebraska and Kansas, and
I have been work~ng every day on health care, and am very
encouraged by.what;I .see up on the Hill and out in the
country.
But I' also think I have to be verY'careful to make
sure that the .American publi9gets .the in:t:,ormation they want
so that they know what happened '16. years ago~ what the.
sequence of events were, that they'know that'we never
borrowed any money:from any S&L, tQat every loan we ever had
was paid back'
a: bank, ,and ,that we, tr ied to· be, you know I
very straightforward in all 01: this.
.
to '.
.. So' I,am going to t~y'to be more effective, I guess,
in explaining what' happened :'and in. answering people's
questions'be~ause I don't,want anybody to have any reason to
,believe that either we did 'anything inappropriate or that we·
. have' any reason to, fear aJ,.l of this.
.
,
NOW, I mus.t confes~, I thought "that when a special
counsel was appointed,' and we said· immediately we will fully
cooperate, we didn't do anything that any other president had
ever done in terms'of, you know, s.aying you can't see this or
we're riot. going to give you that document, we have fully
cooperated, I really. though1:that that wouldbe'the end of
this, until the special' counsel's repor,t came out.
Q
(Inaudible)?
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MRS. ~tINTON: Oh, I think because after demanding
., a special counsel, the people :,who dema'nded it realized that
if they really got a special counsel who conducted a fair and
honest inquiry into this whole matter, tha~ the report that
, would be eventual'ly issued would be' fully answering of all
. the questions, that were out ther'e and point out clearly that
we didn't do anything that anybody should be concerned about.
When they realized that, they thought they might
lose theirpolitic~l advantage for that period of time •. So
they have been, you know, trying to stir up other stories.
They' vebeeri'-' a'g i tating for hearings in the Con'gress. Every
.time t.h~y get something to keep pushing the attacks and the
sort of rumors forward, I guess; they put us in a position of
saying well, wait a minute, we're cooperating with the
special counsel which' is ,what you said you wanted. '
,
'
We don't want to interfere with his investigation.
So then they saywell,that· means you're not going to tell us
anything. So they've tried to create a kind of double bind
for us. You know, consistent with our obligations to the
special ciotinsel. we're going to try to answer people's
·qtiestions and give them information. But we have to do it
consistent with that obligation.
Q
(Inaudible)?
MRS.' CLINTON: Well, I hope I don't see very many
adjustments. I 'mean, I have to keep my own priorities in'
ord~r and'I have tosp~nd the time' on the mat~ersthat are
most important to me. I have to be involved in what happens
in health care.' 1. care deeply about i t .
,
I had two great tr,ips' last' week or earlier this
week that rein~orced my commitment to health care and made it
very clear to' me tha,t" s '\",hat most Americans want me to be
working, ,on. , I have to, you know, do whatever it takes to be
fully cooper~tfve with the special counsel 'and to answer, you
know, questions the. '-be~t I can.
Q
(~naudil:>le)?
.,
MRS. CLINTON: Well, I don 'tknow exactly but I'm
sure that I could have,done something differently, ,although
.I'm not exactly sure what. I really,believe this is; in
part, cyc~ical and that if you' go back and -
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'Q
(Irau~ible)?
MRS. "CLINTON: Oh, no. You know, I am so grateful
for the experience'I've had traveling around the country' and.
working on health care. I've said many'times in the last
couple of weeks that --you ~now, I have this movie running
through my mind o,f ,all the people I've seen and all the
stories they've shared with 'me~
,
,. I just feel so totally committed ,to doing
everything I can to make sure. that everybody in this country
has health insurance ,they can afford." I want to be'able to
go back to the places I've been and look the people in the
eye who have talked to me and, in a sense, you know, shared
: their deepest concerns and tell them we're now taking care of
those.
..
.
. .
" ,',
'
'I feel very good about'all the work I've done ,this
past year and feel very good :about the prospects of our.
having a bill:the president will sign this year. '50 I
wouldn't do any of ' that differently'at all.
Q
(Inaudible)?
MRS.CLINTON,:Oh, you know,. I don't think' the
stories bothered me 'as much as the t:act th?t they were being
used for political ptirposes,and that the tragic: suicide of
someone was being used as a political foot.ball. I really
just was amazed ,by that and felt so strongly that it was
upfair and wrong to his famiJy and his memory~
,
.:
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But, you know, 'if you'd go back and look in
history, I've j~st ~een struck at how most women in my
position have been subjected to the same kinds of attacks.
You know, go back to Dolly Madison who bought a mirror for
$40 and there was a congressional inquiry into it.
Ther~ seems to be sometAing about this role almost
no matter'who is in it, how they choose to carry it out, that
generat~s ,criticism.' My feeling is t,hat I need to do what is
best fQr me, and every woman in this position needs to do
what is best for her~
,
,
I have, av.ery strong conviction that my husband was
'elected to help, make the lives of people better; .and that I
want to do whatever he asks me to do to help him accomplish
that~'
So "if IJ:m going to be criticized for doing what I
beli,eve. in, I would rather just' keep doing what I believe in.
That's what I intend to d'o~,
They're waving ,at me and 1;elling me'I have to get
on to my new luncheon. I'm so glad to talk to you.
Q
(Inaudible)?
MRS'. CLINTON:
~ha'nk you so much, Pat.
Thank you.
See you later., Call; me Hillary, Pat, okay? Thanks. Bye.
* ** * '*
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Lissa Muscatine - Press Office
Creator
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First Lady's Office
Press Office
Lissa Muscatine
Date
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1993 - 1997
Is Part Of
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<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/36239" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="http://catalog.archives.gov/id/7431941" target="_blank">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Identifier
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2011-0415-S
Description
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<p>Lissa Muscatine first served in the Clinton Administration as a speechwriter. Within the First Lady’s Office, she served as Communications Director to the First Lady.</p>
<p>Lissa Muscatine’s records consist of materials from First Lady Hillary Clinton’s Press Office, highlighting topics such as health care, women’s rights, the Millennium Council, Hillary Clinton’s 2000 Senate campaign, and deal extensively with press interviews given by the First Lady; her domestic and foreign travel; and speeches and remarks, on a wide variety of topics, given by her before and during her time as First Lady. The records include interview transcripts, press releases, speeches and speech transcripts.</p>
Provenance
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Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
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Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
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Adobe Acrobat Document
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1,324 folders in 27 boxes
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Paper
Dublin Core
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Title
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FLOTUS Press Office Interview Transcripts Volume III 02/02/94 - 05/31/94 [Binder]: [03/18/94 O'Brien, Pat Working Woman]
Is Part Of
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Box 3
<a href="http://clintonlibrary.gov/assets/Documents/Finding-Aids/Systematic/2011-0415-S-Muscatine.pdf" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="http://catalog.archives.gov/id/7431941" target="_blank">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Creator
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First Lady's Office
Press Office
Lissa Muscatine
Identifier
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2011-0415-S
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Publisher
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Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
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Adobe Acrobat Document
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Reproduction-Reference
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11/26/2012
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2011-0415-S-flotus-press-office-interview-transcripts-volume-iii-02-02-94-05-31-94-binder-03-18-94-obrien-pat-working-woman
7431941