The President's Getting Sorrier

Say that again? President Clinton appeared to utter his first actual apology for the Monica Lewinsky affair Friday -- but it was somewhat ambiguous, and was unlikely to pacify the growing legion of critics in his own party back home. Asked to respond to the searing moral indictment that respected Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman offered Thursday, Clinton said the following: "There's nothing that he or anyone else could say in a personally critical way that I don't imagine I would disagree with, since I have already said it myself, to myself and I'm very sorry about it but there's nothing else I can say."

It was a terse statement, delivered off the cuff during a joint press conference with Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern, and reflected the President's obvious embarrassment at being hounded by Lewinsky questions while he strides the world stage. Unfortunately, it also employed precisely the kind of wordplay that brought Clinton to his present troubles. What, for example, was the "it" that the President was "very sorry" about? The Lewinsky affair itself, or the fact that he had nothing else to say? If Clinton was shooting for another "legally accurate" statement that would allow for both interpretations, it may well backfire. Apart from the inevitable media dissection, such halfhearted contrition will not be looked on kindly by congressmen such as Lieberman. Sometimes being President means having to say -- quite clearly -- that you're sorry.