In America; Clinton's Own Web

By BOB HERBERT
Published: August 17, 1998

Headlines are calling it the moment of truth. We'll see.

Presidential candidate Bill Clinton went on the ''60 Minutes'' program right after the Super Bowl in late January 1992 to clear up the Gennifer Flowers mess. The idea was to tell the truth, to be straight with the American people, and thus save his damaged candidacy. Here's what happened. With more than 30 million viewers looking on, and with Hillary Clinton at his side, he lied.

It worked. The Flowers story, replete with taped conversations between Ms. Flowers and Mr. Clinton, was so sordid the press was uncomfortable with it and the public soon grew sick of it. When Mr. Clinton came in second in the New Hampshire primary in February, he dubbed himself ''the comeback kid.''

Within weeks of the ''60 Minutes'' appearance, Mr. Clinton was facing new questions about how he had avoided the draft during the war in Vietnam. He didn't want to be seen as a draft dodger. If he won the nomination, he would be facing George Bush, who had a strong record of service in World War II. So, as he so often does, Mr. Clinton gave the truth the slip.

Had he received a draft notice or not? Did he escape simply by virtue of a high number in the draft lottery or had he pulled strings? Was he a committed anti-war activist willing to pay a price for sticking by his principles, or just a coward willing to let others fight and perhaps die in his place?

Who knew? The candidate told so many stories, crafted so many evasive answers, came up with so many lame excuses that he gave everybody a headache. The public got tired of the matter and the story went away.

It took Mr. Clinton years to come up with the classic ''I didn't inhale'' response to questions about marijuana. He danced around that issue like Fred Astaire, saying he hadn't broken this law, or violated that statute. We've gotten used to it. It's as if the idea of a straight answer to a difficult question is completely alien to the man.

Now he is going before a Federal grand jury in an effort to salvage what remains of his Presidency. Just about every question he'll be asked will be tough. The danger is that he has woven so many lies he'll be trapped in his own insidious web.

The issue at the moment is not about impeachment. The Republicans have neither the clout nor the inclination, based on what is now known, to remove Mr. Clinton from office. Rather than fiddling with the dangerously unpredictable bomb of impeachment, the Trent Lotts, Newt Gingriches and Orrin Hatches of the world would much rather see the President, the hope of so many Democrats, sitting humiliated in the White House through the year 2000.