EDITORIAL : DATE WITH DISASTER? THE CALENDAR IS CATCHING UP WITH WASHINGTON'S COMPUTERS.

PRESIDENT Clinton can suspend work on building his bridge to the 21st century. Right now, Washington has a more pressing problem - figuring out a way to make it through the 20th century - or, more precisely, 2000.

The federal government faces the mother of computer breakdowns since most of its software is only designed to read the last two digits of a date. Thus, the computers will malfunction when 2000 rolls around unless things are fixed, the Office of Management and Budget has reported.

The OMB has estimated that the problem can be solved by spending $2.3 billion on various fixes, but many in the computer industry think that figure is ridiculously low.

We suspect that some people who often find computers baffling, frustrating or intimidating will derive some perverse pleasure from the fact that the smarties who devised this technology make mistakes, too. But that might be cold comfort given the potential cost of averting what Rep. Steve Horn, R-Lakewood, described as a potential ``electronic disaster.''

On the other hand, Horn might be exaggerating matters. Whether something is a disaster often is in the eyes of the beholder. Things that strike people in Washington as disasters often are of minor consequence outside the Beltway. After all, the republic survived the government shutdowns that occurred during the budget battles between President Clinton and the last Congress.

We have a hunch that the politicians and bureaucrats will, as they usually do, find a way to muddle their way through this technological oversight without creating serious problems for the public.

We just hope that it won't cost too much.