Bill Clinton: “The trick is, in a funny way, is not to hide the differences but to get them out in a way that--where those of us on…”

“The trick is, in a funny way, is not to hide the differences but to get them out in a way that--where those of us on opposite sides can understand the other's opinion. Like there's a way to make an argument to get the maximum amount of votes out of it in the shortest amount of time through emotion, and there's a way to make the same argument so that your opponent at least understands your position. And I bet it's the same way here around a gaming table or anything else. There's two ways to talk to people when you've got a difference of opinion. More than half the time in this country--this is an interesting little historical fact--more than half of the Presidents who have served have had the Congress in the hands of the opposite party, at least one if not both Houses. Now, that's what--the voters seem to think that's a good idea, and they keep doing it. So we have to try to figure out how to make it work. Who's got--yes. Mr. Peabody, you're looking good in your Navy cap. United Nations Peacekeeping Role [A veteran expressed concern that proposed legislation would adversely affect the United Nations and peacekeeping efforts.] Speaker Gingrich. Let me say, first of all--and I appreciate very much your comment about the two of us being here. And I hope you're right. Let me say, first of all, on a lot of foreign policy issues, we work very closely together. And we have tried very hard on Russia, on the Middle East, on a whole range of areas to be very supportive. The President and his senior advisers have always been open in briefing me and have always been open to my phone calls or my visits. We've tried in the House to stop some things that would have been very destructive. And I've tried in public, and I've learned a fair amount in the last 6 months, that a Speaker--it's very important for me to be careful and to be modulated on a number of foreign policy issues. And while we can tangle on domestic politics, there really is a great lesson to be learned from Arthur Vandenberg in World War II. But let me tell you the two things I think where maybe you and I just disagree. And I hope you won't mind my being direct. First, I don't think the last 50 years the peace was kept by the United Nations. Over the last 50 years, the peace was kept because the United States of America spent a lot of money and sent its young men and women all over the planet. And we were the strongest military power in history. And we built an alliance called NATO. And we took enormous risks. And our children--my father fought in Korea and Viet- nam. We're now risking our children in Bosnia, in Iraq, in a whole range of--in Haiti, where the President, frankly, has so far--and I hope it works out perfectly--has so far had a much better policy than I thought he would. It worked better than I thought it would. And he deserves to be commended for, I think, having taken some risk in Haiti. But first, I will say to you--first, I believe we have to recognize that what won the cold war and what kept the peace was America's willingness to lead. And that nothing--you're wearing a Navy cap--if my choice is three U.N. Secretary-Generals or one aircraft carrier, I can tell you which one I prefer to keep the peace in a dangerous world. But I want to say, secondly, about the U.N.--because I'm a big fan of Franklin Roosevelt's, I'm frankly a fan of Woodrow Wilson's, and I think what they were trying to accomplish was terribly important--I think we have to revisit the United Nations current structure. I mentioned this to the National Security Adviser the other day. The U.N. current system of command and control is a nightmare. And anybody anywhere in the military--and the President knows this, because he gets briefed on it--any of our military who looks at what's been happening in Bosnia just wants to cry. You don't send in the military to be hostages; you send in the military to rescue hostages. And the U.N. system--I'm willing to take the U.N. system seriously enough to actually encourage our Government to take the lead in reforming the current peacekeeping system because if it's not reformed, it's going to collapse and become a joke, and you'll see NATO replace it in Bosnia in the not- very-distant future. And I take it very seriously. Over the long run, Churchill once said, ``Jaw, jaw, jaw is better than war, war, war.'' And I think Churchill was right. But to get there, we have to be strong, we have to lead our allies, and together I think we have to learn the lessons of what doesn't work in the U.N. And my hunch is, frankly, if this bill is going to ever become law, there's going to be some fairly intense negotiating between Senator Dole and myself and the President, because otherwise he's going to veto it, and we won't have the votes to override him. So I think we're not--you're not going to necessarily see exactly the bill that's currently there.”