Bill Clinton: “I think that's pretty self-serving: ``I'm not going to do what's right for my country because I don't like Bill…”

“I think that's pretty self-serving: ``I'm not going to do what's right for my country because I don't like Bill Clinton.'' You know, that's--I think that's pretty self-serving. You know, I was gratified when, a few years ago, a historian of the Presidency said that I had kept a higher percentage of my commitments to the American people than any of the last five Presidents who preceded me--an academic man at the time I'd never even met. And so I think that that element of the party devoted the better part of 7, 8 years almost-- now 7 years, more than 7 years--to attacking me personally because they knew the American people agree with my ideas and the direction in which I was taking the country. And on one occasion, much to my eternal regret, I gave them a little ammunition. But I have been trustworthy in my public obligations to the American people, and I have been trustworthy in my dealings with them. I have--I don't agree with them, and when I don't, I tell them. But you know, we've gotten quite a lot done when they have put aside their personal frustration in not owning the White House. The truth is, those folks ought to lighten up. They believe they had--they say--a lot of my Republican friends, you know, they rail against the entitlement programs. They don't like the entitlement programs. But the truth is, for a long time they thought the White House was an entitlement program. They never thought there would be another Democratic President in their lifetime. And they're all gearing up again because they think they're entitled to the parking spaces outside here and to the office space and all. And this job here and this house, it doesn't belong to the Republican Party or to the Democratic Party. The American people own this place. And we're all just here for a little while. And they ought to just relax and realize I'm a temporary tenant and that we're all hired hands. And we ought to work for the American people, do our best, have the elections, and then let the people make their decision and go on again. I think--that's what a lot of this is. They were--they've just been mad ever since I won because a lot of them really never believed there would be another Democrat in their lifetime. And attacking--if you can't beat somebody on the ideas and the issues and the philosophy and the direction of the country and if the country is doing very well, so you just get madder and madder when the country does well, then all you have left is a personal attack and say, ``Oh, I just don't trust the guy.'' But that's not good for America. And you know, I don't attack them personally. I'm not going to get into it. My door is always open; my phone is always open; and I'm going to keep working with them in every way I can. Mr. Lehrer. Since, just in the last 24 hours, since this thing has come to this critical concluding point, people who were criticizing this action, not just Republicans but pundits and people in the foreign policy establishment, they're still criticizing you. They--does that surprise you?”