BIPARTISAN CABINET BLURS THE LINES OF ADMINISTRATIVE COURSE

President Bill Clinton was no sooner re-elected than he began dropping hints that he intended to include Republicans in his Cabinet for a second term. This was of a piece with the new mood in Washington, echoed by most of the national media, that the time had come for bipartisan cooperation in all things. Listen to some sources and an uncritical listener would believe a new era of good feeling, like that of more than 150 years ago, had broken out. This is mostly for public consumption and should be taken with a grain of salt.

President Clinton has tapped Republican Sen. Bill Cohen of Maine for secretary of defense. Other Repu0blicans who were rumored to be under consideration for various key posts included Massachusetts Gov. William Weld and former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean. It is interesting to note one name missing from this list: Retired Gen. Colin Powell, who was frequently mentioned for secretary of state in an administration of either party. Powell's exclusion is seen as a bow to the political influence of Vice President Albert Gore, who sees him, probably correctly, as a threat to his own White House ambitions.

Far be it from us to rain on this parade, but in the main, including Republicans in this president's Cabinet isn't a good idea. With few exceptions mostly limited to national emergencies in wartime, presidents have avoided naming opposition party members to Cabinet posts. Franklin Delano Roosevelt named a few, most notably the distinguished Cordell Hull as his secretary of state as the storm clouds of World War II beckoned America into that conflict. More recently, Richard Nixon named former Texas Gov. John Connally to head the Treasury Department. It is now reliably reported that Nixon was hoping somehow to maneuver Connally into switching parties, the better to position the swaggering Texan as his successor.

The cause of accountability in government is enhanced when voters know that one party is in charge of a given branch of government. This cause isn't enhanced when a president reaches out as though he were trying to form a coalition government, as in a British- or Italian-style parliamentary democracy. Again, in rare wartime national emergencies, this is commendable. We are far from such a situation today.

This president have the men and women he wants in his Cabinet, provided they are ethically clean and have a demonstrated background and judgment suited for their posts. The one exception we would admit of this is if the president were to find and nominate a business executive singularly committed to, say, eliminating a department such as Commerce, which needs closing. Fat chance, with this president. For now, he is the only president we have, and he should stick to his own party to fill the remaining vacant posts in his administration.