OLUMBIA, S.C. - In a state that has become a national political battleground over the flying of the Confederate flag above the state Capitol building, President Clinton last night called for healing.
Clinton had been widely anticipated to blast Republicans for not taking down the flag, which many see as a symbol of hatred and racism.
But when the president got behind the lectern at this city's predominantly black college, at a fund-raising event honoring the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and attended by organizers of a march this Sunday against the flag they despise, he waved off the opportunity to fuel the fight.
Sounding reflective and somewhat exasperated, Clinton recounted the ethnic conflicts he has watched and attempted to resolve during his presidency. From Kosovo to Rwanda to India and Pakistan, Clinton said, ethnic hatred and mistrust have destroyed nations and held back the progress of their people.
''I'll tell you. Everybody's got a beef in life,'' Clinton told diners at an event honoring Representative James Clyburn, South Carolina's only black congressman since Reconstruction.
But ''we've got to let this go,'' the president said.
In his only comments directed specifically at the flag controversy, Clinton was succinct.
''As long as the waving symbol of one American's pride is the shameful symbol of another American's pain, we still have bridges to cross in America,'' Clinton said. ''And we better get across them.''
The flag issue had been a simmering local controversy for decades, but blew up into a national and racially charged debate during the early presidential primary campaign.
The Confederate flag has been flying over the state Capitol since 1962, when it was raised to commemorate the Civil War. But Clinton and Vice President Al Gore were virtually mute on the matter until Gore made a political issue of it this year.
Gore has derided his likely Republican opponent, Texas Governor George W. Bush, for failing to denounce the state-sponsored display of what many see as a symbol of racism and hatred.
The NAACP declared a national tourism boycott against South Carolina on Jan. 1 - a boycott Clinton may have technically violated when he attended the event last night.
The $500-a-head dinner, coupled with a $5,000-a-couple private reception, raised between $650,000 and $700,000, party officials said. The money will go toward endowing a chair in Clyburn's name at South Carolina University, and to funding South Carolina's state Democratic Party.
In his speech, Clinton crowed about the growth in the economy during his presidency. But in an unusual warning, he reminded the diners that the nation might not always be so prosperous, and that the United States needs to take its rare opportunity to rebuild poor communities domestically and abroad.
Gore's and Bush's election proposals are based on the notion that the economy will continue to do well. Gore's political fate is also tied in part to his attachment to the current prosperity, the longest-running in US history.
''We cannot afford to be relaxed just because times are good,'' Clinton warned. ''I came of age when times were good. And I saw it go away in a flash.''
