Vince Foster

SACKCLOTH and ashes don't fit comfortably on the Washington pundit class. After the release of Vincent Foster's note last week blaming the press for some of his unhappiness, there was a moment of self-examination.But only a moment. Then came the rationalizations. After all, Lani Guinier, Clarence Thomas and lots of others got it much worse than Mr. Foster, who was untouched outside the pages of the Wall Street Journal.And Mr. Foster was obviously a deeply troubled man whose suicide raises many still-unanswered questions.

Washington. -- One Whitewater puzzle is this: Why have the Clintons been so ruinously resistant to revealing everything about what probably are, at worst, dealings too minor and complicated to arrest the nation's attention, and concerning which a political statute of limitations has expired because an election has intervened?The answer may be: Revelation would disarm an administration dependent on sowing moral disdain for opponents. That is, Whitewater may be trivial, other than as a deflator of moral pretensions.

Washington. -- "The mood of this capital . . .'' was the way James Reston of the New York Times used to begin columns about the drift of the ship of state. Well, the mood of this capital is poisonous. The air is heavy with hazy humidity, fear, loathing, lying, sanctimony and hypocrisy.It's a slimy, desperate place these days, worse than I have ever seen it. At least during the hot summer of Watergate 20 years ago, politicians and press alike believed they were dealing with high crimes. They saw themselves doing the most important work they would ever do, trying to guide the democracy through a true crisis in the balance between men and the laws they made.

GO FIGURE. THE nation holds its breath over the vote in Florida, and A. Robert Kaufman, a man who knows a thing or two about the fine art of losing a political campaign, blames Al Gore as the man who cost Ralph Nader the election. This puts Kaufman, a contender in the last Baltimore mayoral election, in something of a minority. In fact, about a 2 percent minority. But Kaufman's been here before. In last year's mayoral unpleasantness, campaigning hard all summer, concocting endless victory scenarios, he ended up with 233 votes.

WHY did Adm. Bobby Ray Inman, sailing toward easy Senate confirmation as secretary of defense, suddenly flinch and withdraw his name?We do not yet know, but I suspect it was not for the reason given in the therapy session that was his departing news conference.Is one good pop by a columnist, along with anticipated light flak about nanny-tax problems, enough to drive a smooth Washington operator out of a cabinet post? (If he had been confirmed, and North Korea said "Boo!" would the Pentagon have sued for terms?

Hillary is not pregnant. Bill's the only one in the family, as Letterman would say, who's eating for two.But the rumor's out there, being whispered about in some tabloid or another. And no wonder.She's the new Hillary. Again. She's like Nixon, only without the jowls -- continuously being reinvented. There are more versions of Hillary than there are Hillary hairstyles.Have you seen the latest Hillary? You have to look carefully. She's getting the same amount of TV time as Chevy Chase.If you do see her, you may notice some profound changes.

THE subject of the Clintons' involvement in the Whitewater development project first came to public attention during the 1992 presidential primaries when Jerry Brown raised the matter. Bill Clinton's response to the allegation of impropriety was interesting. He didn't deny it. He didn't admit it. He just didn't answer it at all. Instead, he wagged a finger at Mr. Brown and warned him to stop "jumping all over my wife."In point of fact, Mr. Brown was not attacking Hillary (as Bill Clinton certainly knew)

WASHINGTON -- In this era of nonconfessions and quasi-apologies, Rep. Dan Burton's recent mea culpa may rank just below President Clinton's in its inscrutability.But when Burton hinted that he would soon have to disclose how he caused his three marital separations and a near-divorce, his message on Capitol Hill was clear: Sexual misconduct in Congress will become an issue as soon as independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr sends his investigative report to the House, possibly this month, and members had better be ready.

Washington -- USUALLY A velvet-spoken man dripping Ivy League gentility, Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa, rushed from his corner throwing snarling haymakers at Bill Clinton's chin.Biff! Bam! Take that, Bill.You too, Hillary.Leach wanted to rattle skeptics -- like this one -- who think Whitewater is a snore turned into a snooze. The suddenly fiery Banking Committee chairman threatened to put the Clintons on deck."This is about the arrogance of power," Leach said, peering ominously over his horn-rims.

IT IS OFTEN said, and usually in weekly newsmagazines, that we live in a time when shame doesn't matter anymore.According to the cover story I recall, we have entered the post-shame era of easy redemption. Whatever our transgressions, we spill a few tears and we are inevitably forgiven. Especially, we forgive ourselves.And then, in real life, Adm. Jeremy Boorda kills himself in the way that military men used to -- or at least the way they used to in the books we read -- when honor was more important than life.