Woodward takes on politics
By Jaime Levi | November 11, 1999Several 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.
