Bill Clinton: “Well, you know, for one thing, I think if you look at the time in which we live, the combative time in which we live and…”

“Well, you know, for one thing, I think if you look at the time in which we live, the combative time in which we live and the frustrations people are going through, it's hard for any incumbent politician to be popular. Secondly, I have taken on a lot of tough issues in a very short period of time. And when you go through fights and you take on a lot of strong interest groups--and we had to take on tough interest groups to pass the economic plan, to pass the college loan plan, to pass the Brady bill, to pass the assault weapons ban, to try to deal with the health care issue--when you do these things, there is--it's also, while you're doing it, it can be very unsettling to people because all the news they get is about the combat, the conflict, the things that are going on. So I knew when I started this course that I had to keep my eye on what America would look like in the 21st century. And I had to be willing to have some ups and downs in popularity to try to solve the long-term problems of the country. I just want the American people to know that I have--every day I get up and go to work and do the best I can trying to increase their strength for the future, to give them good jobs and safe streets and strong families and to make us stronger in the world. And I think we are getting stronger. We're moving in the right direction. And that's my job. And I tell everybody at the White House, it's not our job to worry about our popularity, to worry about what the American people think of us every day. But we have to think of the American people every day. And in the end, I think the approval ratings will come out okay. But I've just got to get up here and try to solve these problems. They're not easy; they're not simple. And the only thing that I regret is that I have not been more successful in trying to dissipate some of this kind of cynical and negative atmosphere in which we operate today because the truth is, this is a very great country with enormous capacity to deal with our problems. We are making progress; we are moving forward. And we need to fight the temptation to be full of self doubt. You know, it just doesn't belong in this country.”