Highlights

Excerpts from the President’s Wednesday news conference.

WHITEWATER

“I’ve watched none of these hearings, I’ve not kept up with them. I’ve been working on jobs, and health care, and the crime bill, and peace in the Middle East, and doing the things I was hired to do by the American people.”

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“I welcome this investigation. And it will vindicate what I have been saying all along.”

HEALTH CARE

My goal has been what it has always been: I want a system that will take us to universal coverage. If it takes a few years to get there, that’s fine with me, we don’t want to mess it up.

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“The questions now should shift to (GOP senators). Are we going to cover all Americans or not?”

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“The plan I originally proposed has been changed and much of it for the better.”

HAITI

“I think our security is caught up in whether the people in this hemisphere are moving toward democracy and open markets and observation of the rule of law.”

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“We know that many of our democracies are fragile, but we’re moving in the right direction. We don’t want to see Latin America take one more wrong turn. We’re moving right, we want to stay right. And I think that is profoundly important to us.”

OTHER TOPICS

* NORTH KOREA: Clinton noted that nuclear talks with North Korea resume in Geneva next week. He said North Korea’s “fate is still in its own hands” as it decides how to deal with western demands that it end its nuclear weapons program.

* BASEBALL STRIKE: A self-described lifelong baseball fan, Clinton said it would be heartbreaking if baseball players carry out their threatened strike, scheduled to begin Aug. 12. He said his administration would get involved “if we can play a constructive role.”