Bill Clinton is probably the most arrogant man on planet Earth. He and his wife think they're the baddest motherfuckers. It showed right at the beginning. He thought he could rework healthcare in a year. He thought he could have gays in the military, even though he's dealing with institutionalized homophobia. That guy thinks he swings 'em the biggest. If he were a humble guy, he'd have been looking at a really good place in history. Instead, he let the presidency get in the cross hairs of a fiend like Starr.

Still, he's been a good president. He's taken the damage that Reagan did and got us down to a zero deficit. He's done more for race issues than even Kennedy and Johnson did - he had Ron Brown in his cabinet as commerce secretary. And there's no question that he changed the profile of women in senior positions forever: Ruth Ginsberg, Janet Reno, Donna Shalala, Madeline Albright - it's unprecedented. Bosnia - he was slow to start on it, but so was every European country, and when he finally sent in troops, he kept them there longer and no doubt saved lives. I agree with what he did in Somalia, as well. And even though education is a state issue, the things he's done for it are good. So was starting the whole health-care debate.

The problem now is that he's saying things you can't rally around: "It depends on what your definition of is is." If his daughter came home with reasoning like that, he'd be like, "Gimme a break!" I think Clinton thinks people are dumb. If you're talking to him, he might be all "aw, shucks," but he really thinks you're an idiot.

November 12, 1998 Rolling Stone Issue 799