WASHINGTON -- Going further than ever in confronting the misdeeds that led to his impeachment, President Clinton appeared to admit yesterday that he had abused the authority of his office when he lied about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

But at his first solo news conference in nearly a year, the president doggedly sought to wall off his year of scandal and humiliation, ducking questions about his impeachment, about comments from former aides questioning his fitness for office, about independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr and about an Arkansas woman's allegation that Clinton sexually assaulted her 21 years ago.

He was at times contrite, at times evasive. Yet the president also expressed the conviction that he has been wronged by political enemies who are determined to deprive him of the positive legacy he deserves.

"What young people will learn from my experiences is that even presidents have to [tell the truth] and that there are consequences when you don't," Clinton said, conceding his transgression.

But, he added, "I also think that there will be a box score, and there will be that one negative.

"And then there will be the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times when the record will show that I did not abuse my authority as president, that I was truthful with the American people, and scores and scores of allegations were made against me and widely publicized without any regard to whether they were true or not. Most of them have already been actually proved false."

Kosovo, China and first lady

Emerging from a virtual quarantine from reporters, the president focused his remarks on the two most pressing foreign policy debates of the day: the brewing military confrontation in Kosovo and the intense questioning of his administration's relations with China.

But Clinton also took time to again embrace a New York Senate bid under consideration by Hillary Rodham Clinton, revealing that a year ago, she had suggested that they move to New York after his term ends in early 2001.

That was perhaps a hint that she intends to run for a Senate seat next year. The president insisted that he did not have "a clue" whether she will run, though he proclaimed that she "would be a magnificent senator."

Clinton also offered this plug for the first lady: "She knows so much about public policy. She cares so much about the issues, especially those that have a particular impact on New York."

He deflected rumors that he and his wife have essentially separated even while living together in the White House, saying: "We're working hard. We love each other very much."

And he defended Vice President Al Gore, whose performance on the presidential campaign trail has taken a beating in recent weeks. Yes, Clinton said, Gore is indeed the son of a senator, and he attended the elite St. Albans School as a child. But, Clinton said, the vice president really did plow steep slopes on his father's farm in Tennessee, as Gore has contended.

No, Clinton conceded, Gore did not really invent the Internet, as the vice president claimed, but he was "one of the major architects of America's progress in technology" over the past 20 years.

"I can tell you this: I'll be happy to toot his horn," Clinton said, making no secret that he plans to work diligently for Gore's election next year.

Twilight of a career

As the president's political stature diminishes in the shadow of impeachment and the twilight of his administration, Clinton appears eager to turn to the political futures of his wife and vice president. He called Gore "a principal architect of the major economic and other policies of this administration."

But Clinton also stressed that he himself has two years left to enact what he called perhaps the most ambitious economic agenda of his presidency, proposals that include using 77 percent of the burgeoning budget surplus to shore up Social Security and Medicare while expanding Medicare's benefits to include a prescription-drug benefit.

At the same time, the president faces tough questions in his remaining 22 months, especially on foreign policy. Clinton resolutely defended his stand on China yesterday, in the face of allegations that Beijing stole nuclear weapons secrets, illegally sought to influence U.S. elections and continued to abuse human rights while the Clinton administration stood idly by.

"The question is: What is the best way for the United States to maximize the chances that China will become more open in terms of political and civil rights, that any vestiges of religious oppression will be dropped, that Tibet will have a chance as soon as possible to preserve its unique culture and identity?" Clinton asked.

"It seems to me that the best way to do it is to work with the Chinese where it's in our interest to do so and to frankly and forthrightly state our difference where they exist," he answered.

The president again defended the speed with which his administration acted when it learned in 1996 that a nuclear weapons design might have been stolen from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the 1980s.

It was not until early last year that the president formally instituted new security procedures at the nation's nuclear weapons labs. And not until this month was the Taiwanese-born scientist who is suspected of passing on the secrets fired.

In fact, Clinton said, the administration is still unsure whether the nuclear secrets were obtained through espionage.

No one in his administration, the president said, had brought to his attention any accusations that nuclear weapons secrets had been compromised during his presidency.

And he emphatically denied Republican allegations that the White House responded slowly to the China accusations in order to secure questionable foreign campaign contributions in 1996 and to safeguard Clinton's China policy and U.S. trade interests.

"I can say categorically that it never crossed my mind that I should not disclose some inquiry being undertaken by the United States government for reasons of commercial or other gain," Clinton said. "That is not true."

Deft with media

Despite his 11-month hiatus from extended solo news conferences, Clinton handled the news media deftly yesterday, remaining even-tempered, casual and sometimes humorous.

When asked about the allegation of an Arkansas woman, Juanita Broaddrick, that he sexually assaulted her two decades ago, Clinton showed none of the frustration that he had displayed at his last news conference, in April, when he was grilled relentlessly about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

"Five weeks ago today, I stood in the Rose Garden after the Senate voted [to acquit], and I told you that I thought I owed it to the American people to give them 100 percent of my time and to focus on their business," Clinton said as he again referred to a statement issued by his private lawyer, David E. Kendall, which stated simply that Broaddrick's allegation is false.

But the president could not prevent an occasional note of self-pity from creeping in.

Asked about the motives of his political antagonists, he told a joke about a man who had fallen into the Grand Canyon. As he plunged toward his death, the man grabbed a twig on the canyon wall, only to watch that twig slowly pull loose from its mooring. The man pleaded with God: "Why me? I pay my taxes. I go to work every day."

"And this thunderous voice says: 'Son, there is just something about you I don't like,' " Clinton said to appreciative laughter.

Pub Date: 3/20/99