Quotes of the Day

TIME: In the book you discuss how you sought marriage counseling during your most difficult moments in the White House. Can you talk a little about the role that played?

CLINTON: We spent a lot of time in counseling, and I found it very helpful. It began after August 1998. I'm not going to go into details. I think it's important that the process itself remain among us, because it's the kind of thing that doesn't work if you start unraveling it. I thought it was important when I wrote the book, though, to include the fact that we sought out counseling.

TIME: You describe the revelation about Monica Lewinsky as a great betrayal and shock. But earlier in the book you deal with Gennifer Flowers and Paula Jones. Were the President's revelations in 1998 the only time this was real for you?

CLINTON: It was certainly a terrible moment for me, to be told that what he had said to me was not true.

TIME: Was the lie the worst part?

CLINTON: You can't separate it out. It was all part of a very difficult time, and one that was excruciating, made worse by it being public. So I had to deal with what was there, and that's what I tried to do, and to do it according to my own beliefs and values, on my own terms. I don't try to make any judgments about any other people's marriage, because it's a mystery--why two people are attracted to each other, why they love each other, why they marry, why they stay married. And in August 1998 I had to ask myself whether I would continue to stay married or not--whether I could under those circumstances. And that was a very hard decision.

TIME: If Ken Starr had been told he was not allowed to depose a sitting President, would you rather have not known about Monica?

CLINTON: I can't speculate. What happened happened. And what was private and should have remained private was made public, and there's nothing that I can do to turn the clock back on that.

TIME: In the book you have a lot to say about forgiveness. Have you forgiven Ken Starr?

CLINTON: I can certainly forgive him as a person, but I don't think any of us should forget the misuse of the legal system and the subversion of the Constitution that he was part of, because those are lessons we need to learn so we don't let something like that happen again.

TIME: Do you sympathize with Martha Stewart?

CLINTON: I do. Martha is a friend of mine, and I am very sorry for what she's going through now. I have no information about what she's charged with, but I think there's more at work than meets the eye.

TIME: Speaking of public figures, do you think President Bush inspires on the left the same kind of reaction that you and Bill inspired on the right?

CLINTON: I personally believe that he is taking our country in the wrong direction. When it comes to questions of security, we unite behind our President, and I think that's a tremendous tribute to the American people. But the policies here at home are going to have long-term damaging effects on the middle class, on working people, on the poor, on the Federal Government's ability to do anything other than fund defense. And that is not by accident. That is a deliberate strategy, beginning with the very large tax cut of 2001, continuing through the very large tax cut we just passed.

TIME: Would you call Bush a radical?

CLINTON: I think that many of the policies of this Administration and the Republican Party are quite radical. They are certainly more radical than Ronald Reagan, and far more radical than the mainstream of the American political center. They are very open about this. They are attempting to dismantle the Federal Government. They're trying to pack the courts with extremists who have a mission to undo much of the civil rights and labor rights and environmental protections that were supported by Republicans and Democrats alike. They're looking to realign the relationship between the Federal Government and the states. It's a very radical agenda.

TIME:Do you think the prewar Iraqi intelligence was credible, wrong or manipulative?

CLINTON: We don't know yet. The jury--for me at least--is out on that. Enough questions have been raised inside the intelligence agencies themselves as well as by very knowledgeable outside analysts, that we cannot ignore this. We have got to have, I would hope, both a congressional and independent investigation to try to figure out what was known, and try to fix what might have been wrong.

TIME: Is the "vast, right-wing conspiracy" bigger than you thought when you brought that term into our vocabulary?

CLINTON: I wouldn't know how to judge it. That may not have been the most artful language because it's not really a conspiracy, which seems to suggest something that is done under cover of darkness or in secret. It's a very open agenda that's being pursued.

TIME: Do you think the left has trouble getting its message out?

CLINTON: The Democrats have not done a very good job in creating institutions that would begin to counter the claims that are made on the other side. If you look at public opinion, a majority of the country actually agrees with the Democrats on these issues. I think the '04 elections will be a lot closer than people believe.

TIME: As a Senator, would you vote to alter term limits, like the 22nd Amendment limiting Presidents to two terms during their lifetime?

CLINTON: I'd have to look into that. I think my husband raised some good questions about it, and he made clear it wasn't about him. He is not interested in and has said he would not run for President again.

TIME: Are you running for re-election in 2006?

CLINTON: I'm looking forward to it. I'm having a good time being Senator.

TIME: Do you want to be President in 2008?

CLINTON: I have no intention of running for President

• Nancy Gibbs