Former president Bill Clinton’s confrontational response to a question about the new realities of sexual harassment has many in the media accusing him of shirking responsibility for his own past behavior.
In an NBC interview that aired Monday morning, Clinton was asked if he felt “differently” about his extramarital affair with Monica Lewinsky in the late 1990s, when he was still in the White House.
“No, I felt terrible then and I came to grips with it,” he said. He also told the interviewer, Craig Melvin, that the affair, which took place when Lewinsky was only an intern, was “litigated 20 years ago” and noted that a majority of the country “sided with me.”
Reporters and commentators said Clinton appeared to lack sufficient remorse.
“Clinton is probably correct that history (and public sentiment) have validated his view of the impeachment drive against him as basically illegitimate,” New York Times reporter Nick Confessore said on Twitter. “But the opposite is happening regarding his underlying personal behavior. And he does not seem prepared to grapple with it.”
Clinton is probably correct that history (and public sentiment) have validated his view of the impeachment drive against him as basically illegitimate.
But the opposite is happening regarding his underlying personal behavior.
And he does not seem prepared to grapple with it.— Nick Confessore (@nickconfessore) June 4, 2018
“What has Bill Clinton learned from the #metoo era?” tweeted NBC reporter Kasie Hunt. “Not very much, it doesn’t sound like.”
What has Bill Clinton learned from the #metoo era?
Not very much, it doesn’t sound like https://t.co/bwOqSUPL0i
— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) June 4, 2018
CNN anti-Trump commentator Ana Navarro said on Twitter that she personally liked Clinton but that the interview “was a chance for a ‘mea culpa’ & self-reflection. His defensive deflection does not help him, Lewinsky or #MeToo.”
I know Bill Clinton.
I like Bill Clinton.
I think b/c so many of us like him, we treat him w/kid gloves on this, despite changing times.
This was a chance for a “mea culpa” & self-reflection.
His defensive deflection does not help him, Lewinsky or #MeToo. https://t.co/LXzm2BlAXH— Ana Navarro (@ananavarro) June 4, 2018
Clinton has long faced accusations of misconduct with multiple women, including rape. He has denied all of them, though he did admit to the affair with Lewinsky after famously denying it.
Because the intensity of the “Me Too” movement did not exist at the time, however, Clinton was not subject to the same pressure as other powerful figures, such as Harvey Weinstein and Matt Lauer, both of whom had their careers upended after facing multiple allegations of sexual harassment and assault.
MSNBC “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski said the interview with Clinton was the exchange “we’ve been waiting decades for.”
She said the interview finally addressed Clinton’s “abuse of power” and “the continued abuse that happened under him, and the example he set for America’s children about what ‘is’ is.”
[Opinion: Bill Clinton confronts #MeToo with smirks, arrogance]
