ACHIEVING POWER IS NOT THE SAME AS EXERCISING POWER

It was the most amazing campaign in recent times. Bill Clinton won a November Electoral College landslide after being defeated in February in New Hampshire, nearly eliminated in Connecticut in April and counted out by USA Today in May when that newspaper claimed Clinton might get as few as six electoral votes.

Clinton succeeded because of resiliency and perseverance, a consistent message, and a faultlessly executed campaign strategy. He was considered a "second tier" Democratic candidate because the party's luminaries had opted not to take on President Bush, the Commander-in-Chief of the Persian Gulf campaign who had an incredible 88 percent approval rating only eighteen months ago. But in retrospect Clinton might have emerged even if the so-called first tier had run. As the 1992 campaign reveals, the Arkansas governor was the most skillful candidate in the entire Democratic field. He was a superb messenger with a focused message: change, the economy, education and health care.

He learned from the mistakes of the meandering Dukakis effort of 1988. Whereas Michael Dukakis took hit after hit from George Bush without responding or challenging, Clinton riposted each attack literally within minutes. No Bush charge went unanswered. No negative Bush thrust was allowed to sink in to a lethal level.

Bush and his advisers ran a tentative, unfocused campaign, groping for themes and strategy as the campaign evolved. "Family values" might play with Pat Robertson's crowd, but it didn't play across the nation. The mean-spirited context in which that message was conceived at the Republican Convention in Houston left Bush saddled with an issue that made him look foolish. Of course, Bush needed the far right, but he didn't need to become its puppet.

But in final analysis, it was the beleaguered economy that determined the outcome. Americans in overwhelming numbers concluded that the economic future for themselves in the short term and their children in the long term was bleak. Twelve years of Reagan-Bush was enough. There had to be change.

Change was the Clinton byword. It was the essential ingredient of Clinton's success. Simultaneously, it was the basis of Ross Perot's substantial appeal. The Perot factor was the wild card of campaign. The 100 million voter turn out can, in large measure, be attributed to Ross Perot. He became the candidate of the politically disenchanted. His 19 percent of the vote is a measure of the depth of the disillusionment.

Bill Clinton goes to Washington with the biggest Democratic Electoral College victory in a generation and a respectable popular vote margin. He realizes that there is a great doubt and distrust in the American electorate. Two thirds of the county think we are on the wrong course and that our political system is broke. Clinton's first priority is the economy. Of equal importance is beginning the process of restoring public confidence in our system of governance. Of the two, the former is the easiest to rectify.

From Watergate to Koreangate, Irangate, Iraqgate, Checkgate and all the rest, the nation has been battered with a series of confidence-shattering incidents, events and policies. Bill Clinton executed a brilliant strategy to achieve power. For the nation's sake, we hope he has an equally brilliant strategy to exercise power.