Of all the instances of Clintonian State of the Union excess over the past six years, THE SCRAPBOOK was prepared to award first prize to the moment last Tuesday night when the president ostentatiously mouthed the words "I love you" to Hillary. But then Michael Medved, on his national radio talk show, pointed out a similar but even more stunning Clintonism from the 1996 address.
That speech, unlike this year's, had a section on "strengthening families." After fearlessly denouncing deadbeat dads, the president declared: "Our first challenge is to cherish our children and strengthen America's families. Family is the foundation of American life. . . . I call on American men and women in families to give greater respect to one another."
What's interesting is precisely how the president was demonstrating respect for his own family two days before voicing those admirable sentiments. On Sunday afternoon January 21, 1996, Bill Clinton researched family values at the White House with Monica Lewinsky. According to her sworn grand jury testimony: "I didn't know if this was sort of developing into some kind of longer-term relationship than what I thought it initially might have been, that maybe he had some regular girlfriend who was furloughed. . . . I asked him why he doesn't ask me questions about myself, and . . . is this just about sex . . . or do you have some interest in trying to know me as a person?"
The president laughed and said, according to Lewinsky, that "he cherishes the time that he had with me." They continued talking as they went to the hallway by the study and then, with Lewinsky in midsentence, "he just started kissing me." She testified that he then lifted her top, touched her breasts, and "unzipped his pants and sort of exposed himself." She then performed her version of Hail to the Chief.
Two days later, in the State of the Union address, the president made a special -- and touching -- point of honoring his wife. "Before I go on," he said, "I would like to take just a moment to thank my own family, and to thank the person who has taught me more than anyone else over 25 years about the importance of families and children -- a wonderful wife, magnificent mother and a great first lady. Thank you Hillary!" This tribute naturally provoked thunderous applause from the huge crowd in the chamber of the House. And if you review the video tape of the speech and the beaming reaction of the first lady, there is, as always, not the slightest hint of insincerity.
This sordid but telling little episode has a sordid but telling little epilogue -- also contained in the Starr report. When the president's secretary Betty Currie finally handed over to the Office of Independent Counsel the box of gifts she had retrieved from Monica Lewinsky, that box contained a hat pin, two brooches, an inscribed photograph of the president with Lewinsky, two T-shirts, a baseball cap -- and "an inscribed copy of the 1996 State of the Union Address."