Bill Clinton: “It is, but it's obviously a problem of perception rather than reality. If you look at all the strong opponents I've got…”

“It is, but it's obviously a problem of perception rather than reality. If you look at all the strong opponents I've got, I wouldn't have them if I didn't have strong convictions. No other President, while sitting in office, has ever taken on the NRA. I did, at great cost. We reversed 12 years of trickle-down economics and reversed this deficit in a brutal fight where we prevailed by only one vote in each House, largely because the Members knew they would be angering the wealthiest and most powerful people in our society by raising the income taxes in the top 1.2 percent. I took on the strongest constituencies in my own party, including my friends in the labor movement, to pass the Brady bill. I took on the banking interests of the country to reduce the costs of the student loan program and lower the cost of it. So I clearly am a person of strong convictions who has taken on brutal, tough fights. I went forward with the Haiti mission when nobody was for it. So it's clear that (a) I'll take on unpopular things, (b) I'll make enemies, and (c) I'll fight until I win. But we live in an environment in which I think maybe because of the way it's covered and maybe because of my style--because naturally I don't talk in ways that try to threaten people; I like to try to bring people together--maybe I've contributed to my own problem. But the historic record is that we have taken on tough fights others ignored and walked away from; we got results because we fought through to the end. And that, it seems to me, if you just take the four examples I gave you, will be the enduring truth. And my job now is to show the American people as this new Congress meets that I will work with them in a reasonable way. I don't think they want me to be hard-headed and totally uncompromising, but there are some things that I will draw the line on and fight for. New Covenant Mr. Brokaw. But with all due respect, Mr. President, you used that phrase the other night--the New Covenant was a phrase that you used in your acceptance speech, but then once you took office, you didn't put many of those issues front and center until the Republicans just beat your brains in on November 8th, like the middle class bill of rights, for example, talking more about leaner Government, a higher minimum wage, school prayer you even made some references to.”