Several hundred people flocked to the University's Miller Center yesterday morning to hear Bob Woodward, assistant managing editor for The Washington Post and author of eight national bestsellers, speak about issues ranging from the Watergate scandal and President Clinton's impeachment to the changing role of the media in today's society.
But when one audience member asked Woodward if he would reveal the identity of Deep Throat -- the anonymous source who leaked the Watergate scandal to Woodward and his Post colleague Carl Bernstein in 1972 -- Woodward smiled and said, "Not this afternoon."
Instead, Woodward focused on four key questions: "Why has Clinton been a successful politician," "Why was Clinton not removed from office," "Why do we have an economic boom" and "Why do people not like the news media?"
Woodward, who wrote "The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House" in 1995, said interviewing the president has given him insight into Clinton's character.
"I think the success of Clinton [is due to the] stark power of his personality," he said.
Clinton made "eye contact that almost created its own gravitational force," he added, saying that such an ability to hold an audience is unusual for most people, including politicians.
Even while drinking a glass of soda, Clinton was looking through the bottom of the glass at Woodward.
"There were the two little beadies" staring through the soda and ice, Woodward said.
Woodward's new book, "Shadow," deals with the legacies of the last five presidents.
Although Clinton "does not tell the truth ... he has the intelligence capacity to be a really great president," he said.
But the impeachment scandal has marred Clinton's place in history.
It is "easier to describe the creation of the universe" than to describe Clinton's current political situation, he added.
Based on his experience covering the Watergate scandal, Woodward said he believes that Clinton was not removed from office because of a lack of evidence.
"There was no real evidence that he had committed crimes," he said. It was "an ugly chapter in American history, but no evidence of a crime."
In fact, Clinton was saved by Watergate, he added.
"Everyone had that memory of Watergate ... with a mountain, literally, of evidence," Woodward said.
He also touched on the sources of today's record-breaking economy, attributing the boom to an unlikely combination of "economic heroes."
"If I were to make a list of [economic] heroes, I would first start with [former President] Ronald Reagan" because "he put in the biggest tax increase in history," he said.
The second hero of the economy in recent years is former President George Bush, who ironically helped the economy by breaking his promise of not raising taxes, he added.
Woodward named Clinton and his 1993 economic team as the third set of economic heroes.
"By lowering taxes, they agreed the deficit would go down and interest rates would go up," he said.
Woodward then went on to discuss the media, which he added has a tendency to degenerate into "show business."
The job of the media is to "present something and to say, 'Hey look, you did not know that this was going on,'" Woodward said.
The press should "regularly provide new, high quality information that is of unique value," he said.
In regards to the negative attention the media receives, he added, "No one likes what I do."
But audience members said they appreciated Woodward's speech.
Woodward was a "very engaging speaker. I was impressed by how enthusiastic and knowledgeable the audience was," History Ph.D. candidate Taylor Fain said.
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