Highwire: From the Back Roads to the Beltway: The Education of Bill Clinton.

The Brummett book, poorly organized and less substantial, picks up where the Oakley book stops, but with flashbacks and more coverage of Clinton's first year as President. Mr. Brummett's major contribution to the debate is his thorough recap of Clinton's disastrous decision to launch his Administration by lifting the military ban on open homosexuals -- a blunder that presaged the crash of his and his wife's health-reform plan and numerous missteps in foreign policy. In Brummett's book, Clinton is a guy whose nod means ``no.'' Always anxious to please and to avoid conflicts, Clinton fades, along with his Administration, into fumbling incoherence.

Clinton may be possessed of charm, poise, intelligence, and a keen sense of humor, as even his harshest critics will concede. But the fellow's lack of conviction in any set of ``core beliefs'' and his character deficiencies that sacrifice truth to expediency have so far proved to be daunting handicaps in a national leader. It is clear from his biographers' candid appraisals that, had campaign coverage separated fact from myth and deception three years ago, George Bush might now be on the last leg of his second term.