April 7 1997

ARTICLE TOOLS

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"Love your neighbors" is a biblical injunction that Hillary Rodham Clinton says she wants to follow, even with her enemies.

After hearing Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni offer that advice to the audience of government leaders and diplomats at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 6, the First Lady admitted to the crowd, "I have to confess that I was running through in my mind some of those whom I find very hard to love."

Clinton noted that some of her foes have wondered how Democrats can profess to be Christian. "I have to confess that it's crossed my mind that you could not be a Republican and a Christian," she mused. She related a recent encounter with a former antagonist who had asked her for forgiveness because he had "worked very hard to destroy" her during her husband's first presidential term.

Clinton said she forgave the man, but upon reflection wished she had said: "I don't know you and I don't know anything about you, but I want you to forgive me also, because I am sure that in my moments of frustration and anger I have said terrible things about people like you—and I have thought even worse."

The annual National Prayer Breakfast, a 45-year Washington tradition, drew nearly 4,000 leaders from 50 states and 160 nations.