President Clinton gives first online news interview CNN.com hosts chat with president WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bill Clinton made media history Monday, becoming the first sitting president to engage in an interactive, online news organization interview that allowed Web surfers from all over the world to pose questions. Clinton sat down in the Oval Office of the White House with CNN correspondent Wolf Blitzer for an unprecedented 35-minute question-and-answer session with members of the public. Blitzer, sitting directly across from the president, acted more as a facilitator than an interviewer, verbally relaying questions submitted via electronic mail to CNN.com and through a CNN.com chat room to Clinton. The event was beamed around the globe on CNN's main television network and CNN International, and was available live on CNN.com. Thousands of viewers on the World Wide Web were able to watch a live, "streamed" version of the chat as it aired on the television network. The president answered a variety of questions covering international relations, economics and monetary policy, the current presidential election cycle, and, appropriately enough, the Internet. "I'm very interested in using the power of technology -- like what we're doing now -- to help poor countries in poor areas ... [with] development and education..." Clinton said in reference to the day's live chat, when asked of his plans and ambitions once he leaves office. (176k wav file) Public enthusiasm for the event -- which was announced only hours before it kicked off -- resulted in record-setting access numbers for CNN.com's chat operations, according to Paul Schur, publicist for CNN.com. Some 10,400 users "joined" the live chat in a 25-minute period, Schur said -- a number that shatters all previous CNN.com chat participation records. "We had a lot of traffic," Schur said. "It was a record day. We're very pleased." The previous record, Schur said, was set on New Year's Day of this year, when participants had an opportunity to chat with 25 CNN anchors and correspondents stationed around the world. Roughly 10,000 people joined the New Year's chat throughout that day, Schur said. The Internet, Clinton said Monday afternoon, is the thread that binds together the fate and history of the American people from the last two decades of the 20th Century, into the first decade of the 21st, and beyond. The high tech industry, he said, should receive a large portion of the credit for the economic turnaround seen during his two-year tenure. "High technology deserves a lot of the credit," Clinton said when asked by an online chatter if he feels it is proper to take credit for America's economic resurgence. "Remember what life was like before (I took office)," Clinton said. "We came into office with a different approach. We came in and said we were going to do something about the deficit, and when we did, it was like breaking a dam." Nonetheless, the president was generous with his distribution of kudos for the nation's ongoing economic prosperity, even going so far as to say his most vicious critics -- the Republican majority in the House and the Senate -- should share in some of the responsibility for their support of the 1997 Balanced Budget Act. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and the myriad of companies "that restructured in the '80s" should also be thanked, he said. Dipping his big toe into the presidential election whirlpool, Clinton hinted that a continuation of his economic policies of the 90s -- including his focus on the economy during the 1992 election -- would serve Vice President Al Gore well leading through to this November, and possibly beyond if Gore is granted the keys to the Oval Office. "I think (Gore) has a pretty good idea of how to handle" continued economic growth, Clinton said. "He's been here for seven years and has been involved in many of the decisions we have made." Clinton essentially passed on the first question of the afternoon -- posed by a participant identified by Blitzer as Illinois resident Frank Williams -- on his opinions of GOP presidential candidates John McCain and George W. Bush. "I think at some point it might become appropriate for me to say something -- at the Democratic convention ... or if they make a specific statement about me or about my record," he said. "I'll leave it to the voters. Voters almost always get it right." (624k wav file) The president added that the act of watching this year's election drama was a novelty that he took great pleasure in. "This is fascinating. This is the first time in over 20 years that I have been an onlooker." (292k wav file) Staying with politics, a Web surfer identified as Peggy Brown asked Clinton if he had great difficulty in watching his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, endure criticism in her quest for one of New York's U.S. Senate seats. "If she is criticized, if someone says something that is just flat-out wrong, then that drives me nuts," he said. He said later in the interview that he one day hoped to be a member of the "Senate spouse's club," when out of office and engaged in founding his own presidential library and public policy center. (292k wav file) In a moment illustrative of the efficacy of the Internet -- and of such a broad question-and-answer format -- an e-mail received from a group claiming to be "Iranian youth" quizzed the president on the state of U.S. relations with Iran, which have been dismal at best since the Persian nation's 1979 Islamic revolution. It was unclear if the mail was received from Iran, or from a group of Iranian expatriates. The electronic missive called for a "healthy and respectful" relationship between the two long-estranged countries. "That's what I want," Clinton responded. "The U.S. should always remain open to constructive dialogue with people of goodwill." Returning to the subject of Internet access and content, Clinton said he hoped the recent spate of media industry partnerships and mergers -- the proposed merger of Time Warner, CNN's parent company, and America Online was mentioned specifically -- would lead to "greater access for more consumers at affordable prices," as well as more opportunities for smaller content providers to reap financial rewards. (324k wav file) "What I favor is an American economy where people who have good ideas and new messages they want to get out ought to have some way to do that," he said. (148k wav file) The president said he supported the maintenance of the so-called Internet tax moratorium, and vigorously opposed the implementation of any sort of "restrictive" Internet access tax. And, quizzed about how the history books might look back upon eight years of Bill Clinton as president, a thoughtful Clinton said "historians would have to decide," though he hoped they would look at him as someone who "helped America get through this enormous period of transition. "As I have said, we have tried to build a bridge to the 21st century," Clinton said. "I love this job," he added. " I don't know that I am ever going to do anything again that I love like this," he concluded.

VIDEO Watch the online interview given in the Oval Office. (Part 1)

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Watch the online interview given in the Oval Office. (Part 2)

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