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Jun 17, 9:19 AM (ET)

By MADISON J. GRAY

(AP) Former President Bill Clinton addresses the audience at the New York premiere of the film "The... Full Image

NEW YORK (AP) - Following the screening of a documentary about his presidency, Bill Clinton told the audience that he became an enemy of right wing America in an attack led by Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr.

"The Hunting of the President," a movie about what filmmakers Harry Thomason and Nickolas Perry call a political smear campaign against Clinton, premiered at a crowded New York University theater Wednesday.

Clinton, who addressed a group of about 1,000 people, said Starr was "the instrument of a grand design." He said the roots of the modern American right began in the 1960s with turmoil over civil rights and the Vietnam War.

"When the Berlin wall fell, the perpetual right in America, which always needs an enemy, didn't have an enemy any more, so I had to serve as the next best thing," Clinton said.

(AP) Director Harry Thomason and Susan McDougal arrive at the New York premiere of "The Hunting of the... Full Image

It portrays what Thomason and Perry say was a collaboration between conservatives and the religious right to find evidence to discredit Clinton.

"It was an extreme group that had a profit motive against Clinton," said Thomason, one of Clinton's good friends. "It takes away from the power of your vote if you let these small groups influence everything."

The documentary's release just months before the election and Clinton's memoir, "My Life," next week, was coincidental, he said.

The film uses interviews from key players, politicos and journalists about the scandals that plagued the Clinton White House. Among those featured are consultant James Carville, author and former conservative journalist David Brock and Susan McDougal, who served almost two years in prison for refusing to cooperate with Starr's investigation.

(AP) Directors Harry Thomason, left, and Nickolas Perry, right, arrive with Susan McDougal to the New... Full Image

In his remarks, Clinton called McDougal "a victim of abuse of power."

"She was simply a political pawn," he added.

Making only an indirect reference to his affair with Lewinsky, Clinton referred to it as his "stupid, personal, wrong mistakes."

Clinton warned that the country should not get away from the ideals of the framers of the U.S. Constitution.

"It's about striking the balance between empowering the government to do what people need to do for themselves together," he said. "While absolutely preventing the kind of abuse of power chronicled in this film."

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On the Net:

The Hunting of the President: http://www.thehuntingofthepresident.com/