The plight of the Friends of Bill.

NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 6

The Friends of Bill are having a very difficult time as, week after week, more facts are assembled and more unhappy reports circulate. One commentator, minutes before the President began his press conference with Great Britain's Prime Minister, Tony Blair, made a point having to do with the vagueness of Mr. Clinton's demurral. He contrasted it to the statement by Betty Currie's lawyer. It was unambiguous on the only relevant question: namely, had she been instructed to coax, plead, demand that Miss Lewinsky hide the truth. Answer? No. All the President has said is that he has not had sexual relations with Miss Lewinsky and that he has always counseled telling the truth. Given that Mr. Clinton has over and over again not told the truth, he is speaking to a skeptical congregation. What he might have said, imitating the directness of Mrs. Currie's lawyer, was: "I have never engaged in activity with Miss Lewinsky that I would wish to conceal from anyone. My staff is preparing a description of what she did in the 37 visits she paid to the White House."

It was sad for Tony Blair. Granted, he is greatly experienced in the arts and stratagems of polemic. He was asked (the first question) whether he didn't believe that the people of Great Britain and the people of the United States expected high levels of personal conduct from their leaders. Answer? The people of Great Britain and the United States expect us to focus on those issues they elected us to address . . . Iraq . . . Ireland . . . the economy. Off we go. If ever there was a demonstration of what it is that the voters want, it was given at the White House. The press can reliably be thought of as reflecting the curiosity of the people. Those who wish to go on to venture that the people's curiosity is misbegotten are free to do so. But it is patronizing and unrealistic to say that people who are tuned in to the Sports Channel should be tuned in to the Discovery Channel.

The Friends of Bill have the problem that as they batten down, their defenses tend to shrink. Two weeks ago there were questions touching on Monica Lewinsky, on her hot-line mate Linda Tripp, on the itineraries of Miss Lewinsky and Vernon Jordan and Bill Richardson . . . all of that whittles down and down. At the press conference Mr. Clinton even had to abandon Hillary's illumination, that the whole thing is a right-wing conspiracy. The lawyers have a term, pleading in the alternative. It goes like this: I didn't sleep with the girl, besides which I never met her, besides which I don't have a key to her apartment, besides which I was in Dayton that night. Mr. Clinton's defenses rest now on such matters as that Mrs. Currie continues to serve "ten feet away" from him as his secretary. How could that be imagined if she believes the President abused his trust?

There is a factor working for Mr. Clinton that one or two Friends of Bill have permitted themselves, in oral conversations, to voice. It is the thought that crossed quite a few prosecutorial minds in Washington up until, in October 1973, Spiro Agnew resigned his office as Vice President. Some who were anxious to replace President Nixon had to contemplate a President Agnew. The thought to many was quite simply unbearable.

The thought of a President Gore is for some unbearable, those who believe that on some subjects he is more the evangelist than the analyst. But there is the political factor that does not escape the attention of politically minded people. It is that in the year 2000, a race against a President Gore, in office since 1998 with a blameless private life and entitled to another term in office, would be much worse to contemplate than a race against Candidate Gore to replace lame duck Bill Clinton, whose private life requires television filters to protect children. Some people are saying to themselves: Yes, Mr. Clinton deserves to be removed, but, No, don't remove him inasmuch as to do so means to upset the country and derail Republican plans for the future.

So that the Friends of Bill have to accept help where they can find it. "I think the actions of [Clinton's] adversaries are really dirty," Fidel Castro said as a part of a four-hour speech. Adding, "It's a real example of the things that occur in that country, of the lack of ethics." Perhaps Mr. Clinton in the days ahead will persuade Fidel Castro to appear as a character witness.