THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, January 21, 1997             TAG: 9701210010
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A16  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Editorial
                                            LENGTH:   34 lines

A RARE SECOND TERM MUST PRODUCE RESULTS A FEW VITAL ISSUES

The quintessence of American democracy is the private moment in the polling booth. But its most important public celebration is Inauguration Day when the choice is ratified in a peaceful transition of power.

For the second time yesterday, having won a relatively rare second term, William Jefferson Clinton took the oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. Elsewhere, power changes hands only at funerals or gunpoint.

Clinton's evident sincerity on the need for racial healing was welcome on an Inauguration Day that coincided with Martin Luther King Jr. Day. But attempts at high-flown rhetoric seemed out of place at a time when the issues that need to be addressed are relentlessly down to earth.

Clinton begins a final term dogged by scandal and faced with a Congress of the other party. But the opposition leader is weakened too, and both parties face an electorate weary of political sniping. Luckily, there's a clear agenda for the new president and Congress.

The federal budget deficit has been reduced. But to finish the job of getting the nation's fiscal house in order, Congress and the president will have to reform entitlements and provide for an adequate, but not extravagant, military adapted to new global realities.

Sounds easy, but those are very tall orders. Another necessity, made urgent by the troubles of both Clinton and Speaker Newt Gingrich, is to reform the way campaigns are financed.

If progress on those few vital issues is made during the next two years, Clinton and the 105th Congress may be remembered with admiration. If not, history's judgment will be more harsh.