Bill Clinton: “Let me say, I think there are a couple of things we need to try to be candid about. One is my great frustrations since…”

“Let me say, I think there are a couple of things we need to try to be candid about. One is my great frustrations since I've been President is that--I have a line that I sometimes say in speeches; I'll just tell you, I was in Montana the other day, and I said, ``Shoot, if all I knew about me was what I saw on the evening news, I wouldn't be for me half the time either.'' [Laughter] I mean, the truth is that it is so difficult for us in Washington to communicate with people out in the country, with all of the layers between us, that what often is the only way to break through is some fairly extreme statement. The Speaker is real good at that; he can break through like nobody I've seen in a long time. [Laughter] But it will get covered. He can break through. The easy way for--let's take this Medicare debate. The easiest way for us to break through is for him to say, they want to fix the trust fund and the Democrats have no plan, and for me to say, he cuts Medicare too much and it will cost you a lot. Now, the truth is we both believe that, but it's more complicated than that. And the problem we have is that in a difficult time like this, where we're moving into a whole new era, there very often are not simple answers to complex problems; but simple answers very often move the electorate. So if you don't want that, if you want a reasoned debate and you really want to say to the Republicans and Democrats, ``Look, get together and do something that is good for the country and put party aside,'' then out here in the country, when the Congressmen and the Senators come home on the weekends, you need to tell them that. And you need to say it over and over and over again: ``We will stay with you. We will not be spooked by this or that lunge in one direction or the other. We'll give you 4, 5, or 6 months to try to work through this budget, and that's what we expect you to do.'' You have to send a different signal. You have to send a different signal. You have to make people believe they can take complicated positions, explain them to you, and if you think that makes sense, you'll stick with them. And if you do that, I think you can change the way politics work in America. Speaker Gingrich. Can I make one quick story before I take another question, because it is so much what he just said, and I, actually, I wrote it it in a book, it was so vivid to me. I'll get to--you're going to love this. No, you're going to love this.”