Clinton Denies Charges He’s ‘Gone Hollywood’ : White House: President admits mistakes in handling haircut, travel office flaps during TV ‘town meeting.’

With his staff having failed to quiet the furor over a week of White House gaffes, President Clinton on Thursday used one of his favorite forums to try to reassure Americans he is not a star-struck, image-obsessed politician who has lost touch with public sensibilities.

“It’s not the kind of person I am,” Clinton said during a two-hour televised “town meeting,” referring to the haircut he got May 19 from Beverly Hills stylist Cristophe.

“Has the Administration gone Hollywood? The answer to that is: no, heck no, never, no, never--never.”

In his fullest comments to date on the uproar, Clinton conceded that the haircut was a “boner” and a “mess-up.” He apologized for holding up some airport traffic in Los Angeles for nearly an hour while his hair was being cut aboard Air Force One.

He also described the firing of the White House travel office staff as one of several things “that we didn’t handle as well as we could.”

But in a sometimes prickly session aired during the “CBS This Morning” program, he also pinned much of the blame on the press and asserted that the White House’s biggest problem was that “I have to find a better way of communicating.”

Fielding questions from an audience of about 200 people, Clinton also said:

* He would extend most-favored trade status to China for another year in order to encourage growth of its private economy. At the same time, he said, he would maintain pressure for an end to human-rights abuses in that country.

* The Administration’s upcoming health care plan should not deprive women of abortion coverage they currently receive under their health insurance despite an existing congressional ban on the use of federal funds for abortion.

* A national value-added tax “is something we may look at later on,” provided an unfair impact on lower-income taxpayers could be avoided.

* He preferred phasing in a health care program “worth having” rather than accept a version with lesser coverage. Administration planners have said that if a broad health care plan is deemed too expensive, coverage could be phased in over several years while mechanisms to contain health care costs take hold.

Clinton’s explanations came after a week in which his aides have given various and sometimes tangled explanations of the “Hair Force One” and “Travelgate” affairs.

But even some of those aides have lamented that these many explanations have fallen short. New polls have suggested Clinton’s approval ratings have fallen near 45%--marking a faster decline than that of any other modern President.

The White House fired the seven-member travel staff amid charges of mismanagement, and the FBI was asked by the White House to look into possible criminal charges.

Some critics have suggested that Clinton’s friend, TV producer Harry Thomason, told the President of complaints he overheard about the travel office because his business, or those owned by friends, could benefit if the office were revamped.

During the “town hall” session, Clinton sought to portray himself as a person of ordinary style and background.

“I mean, look, I wear a $40 watch,” he said at one point. “Do I look like the kind of guy who would sit on an airport (runway)?” He pointed out that while the visits of Hollywood stars to the White House have been carefully chronicled, “when my preacher from Arkansas stayed here, nobody wrote it up.”

The fuss over Hollywood didn’t amount to “a hill of beans,” he said. Of the haircut, he joked that he was only glad “nobody found out about my manicure I got in California.”

On the travel office, Clinton said the question was efficiency. “The issue is, should we work seven people when three can do the job?” He pointed out that Catherine A. Cornelius, the staffer who sought to take over a reorganized travel office is not a close relative but “about my fifth or sixth cousin.”

Although Justice Department officials suggest otherwise, he said there was no policy barring the White House from contacting FBI officials directly about internal matters.

“This is a do-right deal, not a do-wrong deal,” he said.

Justice Department officials have said that policy stipulates that any contact occur between the White House counsel’s office and the top three officials at the Justice Department, which oversees the FBI.

The policy contained no explicit exceptions that would have allowed discussions such as those that occurred over the FBI’s investigation of some members of the travel office staff, they said.

The President was highly critical of the press. “Controversy gets news, and when we’re out here working on things that aren’t controversial, it’s often not reported,” he said.

In a separate speech Thursday to CBS executives, Clinton asked the broadcasters to portray him “as I am,” rather than as a “clay figure that’s all pulled out of shape.”

Clinton’s feelings also seemed apparent when interviewer Paula Zahn slipped during the “town meeting” and referred to the session as a “confrontation” rather than a “conversation” with the President.

“The truth comes out,” Clinton shot back.

Clinton declined to say whether he intended to fire anyone or reorganize his staff as a means of righting the recent problems.

“Just watch and see what we’re going to do,” he said.

On China, Clinton said the decision to extend “most favored nation” status was a “done deal.” He is expected to announce the policy at a Rose Garden ceremony this morning.

He said his goal in extending the trade benefits is to support modernization in China. But he insisted that “there has to be some progress on human rights and the use of slave labor.”

Asked about abortion services under the new health plan, Clinton said no decision has yet been made. He said that while Congress has barred use of federal money for abortions, except to save a mother’s life, private health plans typically offer such services.

“In solving the national health crisis, we shouldn’t take away from people some right they have now in their health insurance plans,” he said.

Clinton said a value-added tax might be possible if the income tax were lowered and food, housing and the “basics of life” were exempt so that the value-added levy wouldn’t become too regressive.

Its value lay, he said, in its ability to help the economy by adding somewhat to the price of imports while exports would be exempt.

“But it’s such a big issue,” he said. “I thought we ought to face the economy and health care first.”

Asked by a high school freshman why he “didn’t let” his daughter, Chelsea, go to public school, Clinton said the 13-year-old “does not like getting a lot of publicity. And frankly, we have--she has--more privacy and control over her destiny than she would if she were at the public school.”