John F. Harris > Quotes

“The Bosnia deployment in particular illuminated a revealing paradox. While the public was strongly opposed to sending troops to Bosnia, Clinton prospered politically by defying public opinion. For the first time, polls gave his foreign policy majority support, and most voters said they approved of Clinton's performance as commander in chief of the military. There was an important lesson here: Voters did not want a president to cleave too zealously to their wishes. The public preferred a leader to lead.”
― John F. Harris, The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House

“On Sunday, four days after the crime, Clinton traveled to Oklahoma City to appear before a packed auditorium of eighteen thousand. Citing a biblical verse, he said, "Those who trouble their own house will inherit the wind." His sermon underscored how the explosion had transformed Clinton's standing. It was the nature of the American system, where the president is both the administrator of government, like a prime minister, and in a more mystical sense the leader of the people. Clinton, whose emotions were the same as those of citizens everywhere, was helping the nation cope. And even the part of the nation that deplored Clinton in other contexts seemed to appreciate it. The weekend after the bombing, a poll by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal found 84 percent of Americans responding approvingly to Clinton's handling of the attack on Oklahoma City.”
― John F. Harris, The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House