A guide to the perplexed.

IF Bill and Hillary Clinton were Cabinet members, they would have been forced from office by now. Their frequent unethical conduct and their embarrassingly empty memories would cause most Presidents to ask for their resignations. Instead, the Clintons are portrayed by their supporters as victims of partisan politics. Sen. Christopher Dodd (D., Conn.), a member of the Senate Whitewater Committee, demands that the Committee expedite its work and end its inquiry. Amen from Sen. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.), also a member of the committee and, as it happens, a Clinton relative (her daughter married Hillary's brother).

Slowly but surely Whitewater closes in on the Clintons. The long-lost Rose Law Firm billing records show that, contrary to Mrs. Clinton's earlier denials, she had a significant relationship with the corrupt Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan and was involved in issuing legal advice related to Castle Grande -- a fraudulent skein of real-estate deals intended to benefit several Clinton friends and political allies, including James and Susan McDougal (both of whom have been indicted), Arkansas Governor Jim Guy Tucker (who has been indicted), the late Senator J. William Fulbright, and Seth Ward (father-in-law to former Clinton Justice Department official Webster Hubbell, who is serving 21 months in a federal prison for defrauding clients while he was a partner with Hillary Clinton at the Rose Law Firm). If Mrs. Clinton had knowledge of these illegal activities, and sought to cover up her role, she could be vulnerable to criminal charges by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr.

Mrs. Clinton need not fear the sudden appearance of additional billing records. She ordered files relating to Madison land contracts destroyed in 1988. And during the 1992 presidential campaign, Mr. Hubbell and the late Vincent Foster examined Madison billing files when the press began sniffing around Whitewater. Mr. Hubbell says he gave those records to Mr. Foster, who, being dead, is unable to explain their whereabouts. In 1993, just before the Clintons moved to the White House, Mr. Hubbell took additional files from the Rose Law Firm, without permission, and stored them at his own new home in Washington. Mr. Hubbell eventually gave those files to the Clintons' personal attorney while the Justice Department, where Hubbell was a top official, was reviewing criminal referrals while the Resolution Trust Corporation had named the Clintons as possible witnesses to, or beneficiaries of, Madison Guaranty's corrupt dealings. Of course, Mr. Hubbell should never have taken those files and stored them at his home. And, as a senior law-enforcement official, why did he give them to the Clintons' private lawyer, and not to his own Department?

Then there is the matter of Treasury officials, such as former Deputy Secretary Roger Altman and former General Counsel Jean Hanson, tipping off the White House about the RTC's investigation. Newly released notes show that in a January 1994 strategy meeting, White House officials plotted to make sure Beverly Basserr Schaffer, Arkansas's top bank regulator and a Clinton appointee, would tell the right 'story' when asked about Mrs. Clinton's dealings with her in 1985 on behalf of Madison. The notes show Attorney General Janet Reno's concurrence to limit the scope of a special prosecutor, President Clinton calling for one.

Now a maze can be confusing without a map. Indeed, the Clintons hope all of this is too confusing for the voters. But the Clintons are wise to surround themselves with lawyers.