It was around 8 on Thursday night in the White House residence when a small group of advisers quietly started talking about whether it was time for Bill Clinton to grovel again. To their surprise, he was already there: "I've been thinking about this for a couple of days," Clinton said. He had begun scratching out notes about what he would say: not another legal brief--his lawyers had been delivering those all week--but something a little more spiritual, about taking responsibility and accepting punishment and sending the signal that he finally, finally got it.