Besieged, the President Vows to Fight On

WASHINGTON: Bill Clinton continues to insist that where Bob Livingston went, he will not follow. Flanked by his wife, Al Gore and dozens of House Democrats on the South Lawn just hours after his impeachment, Clinton promised to remain in the White House until "the last hour of the last day of my term." Citing both the nation’s business and the people’s will as reasons to stay on, Clinton thanked the Democrats for their honor and said that the only question is "what are we going to do now."

Bob Livingston had meant to provide an example. After making what he probably knew were two vain pleas -- one for the President to resign and one for the House to heal its divisions –- the Speaker-elect of the House told Clinton that "I can only challenge you in such fashion if I am prepared to heed my own words." Livingston, in front of a shocked House, abruptly quit -- and drew a bipartisan standing ovation. There was already a rumored replacement by day's end, an obscure Illinois Republican named Dennis Hastert.

Clinton reportedly hadn’t even watched the voting, and his message on this gray Saturday evening was determinedly un-Nixon-like. Instead of stepping down, Clinton the great campaigner will spend a long and busy winter on one last bid. He has a slogan -- "Stop the politics of personal destruction" -- and an escape plan: bipartisan censure. To win, he has to remind Americans how much they always wanted him to stay.