William Jefferson Clinton's Psychologydamaging consequences, and that it would function in a way that is
fair.
Many of the president's aides and allies were not as confident as he
was. Yet he and his wife overrode a number of his aides' concerns and
went ahead with the plan anyway. Why? One answer lay
in their sense that they were smarter than anyone else. For peo-
ple who considered themselves masterly politicians with a fine
feel for the public, and people who were of considerable politi-
cal talents, they misjudged probable public reaction. (Drew
> 305)
In other words, strong ambition and high levels of self-confidence
can lead to poor judgment. President Clinton and his wife not only
underestimated the public's response to their health care plan but
overestimated their ability to overcome it. Moreover, the method
President Clinton chose to help him win acceptance of the plan,
emphasizing security (which became the selling point after polling
indicated it would be effective) instead of dealing directly with the
many complex and difficult issues his plan raised, exacerbated the
difficulties.
There is one other area of risk taking that requires mention: those
in his personal life who are indulgent and reckless. This risk taking
has publicly emerged in connection with his extramarital relation-
ships,^8 with his dealings with the Whitewater real estate venture,
and most famously with his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. In
each of these cases, Clinton clearly engaged in behavior that was
extremely risky from the standpoint of his personal and political
ambitions.
In these circumstances, Clinton experiences difficulties with
impulse control, apparently believing that, if caught, he can always
find some way to defuse the situation. All of these behaviors are ele-
ments that emanate from character. From ambition comes the sense
that he will achieve what he wants to go after. From the domain of
character integrity comes the highly idealized view of oneself, a view
he believes he can convince others to hold. And from the domain of
relatedness comes the sense that he can and will do what it takes to
get others to see things his way.