Left at the altar.

THAT'S a girl to think? On Friday, President Bush was scheduled to sign into law something we all on principle had once opposed as a quota bill. Those of us who continued toc fight against this bill as incompatible with a color-blind society had more or less resigned ourselves to the fact that the wedding was off. But on the morning of the signing it seemed that we were again an item, as the President was planning to accompany the bill-signing with a presidential memorandum outlawing racial preferences in federal hiring, promotions, and procurement. A few hours later we were again left at the altar.

What makes the whole episode so thoroughly annoying is that the original directive the President had intended to sign was more worthy of his signature than the bill it was to accompany. Drafted by White House Counsel C. Boyden Gray, the directive ordered government agencies "immediately [to] terminate all regulations, rules, and programs of whatever nature that may be inconsistent with the new law or with the principle of discouraging quotas and unfair preferences."

As soon as he heard this, Ralph Neas screeched that the President was trying to take back everything he'd given in the bill (endorsement enough for us), and by the time of the signing all the offensive language-that is to say, the guts of the order-had been deleted. Just as telling was the statement by presidential spokesman Marlin Fitzwater, who said the President reserved the right to issue such a directive at a later date (should he again change his mind). Predictably, this pleased no one. Not Mr. Neas and the rest of the civil-rights establishment, who see George Bush as trying to dupe them at the last moment. Not the Democrats, who say the President only caved under their pressure. And certainly not us, who thought Bush had it right when he was arguing against the bill on principle.

In the immediate aftermath the whole thing was blamed on Boyden Gray, even though sources tell us that the White House counsel had discussed this at least once with the President himself. Indeed, Mr. Gray merits high praise-first, for writing the thing, and, second, for falling on his sword. In an Administration of pragmatists, Gray has been a healthy influence. He is a jealous guardian of presidential prerogatives, an astute arbiter in the selection of judicial nominees, and a source of backbone against liberal onslaughts. He and his talented staff are champions of the Federalist Society, a national movement of lawyers dedicated to our Constitution as it was written, not as it was later embellished.

We hope that when the dust settles, the Administration will recover its nerve on a matter of such importance. The President should have no doubt that the country is against quotas, whatever self-serving uproar the inside-the-Beltway crowd has ginned up. He should stick with Gray.