COMMENTARY ON GOVERNMENT : When the Proverbial Buck Lands With a Thud on Incumbents : The public cannot be blamed for its dismay. In fact, it ought to be encouraged to keep that disapproval stoked.

When a buoyant President-elect Clinton promised the American people “change,” it is unlikely he had in mind the half-dozen changes that have occurred in the year since his triumph.

First, Georgia voters changed U.S. senators in a runoff, dumping incumbent Democrat Wyche Fowler for Republican Paul Culverdale.

Texas voters did the same in the spring, ousting a Democrat appointee for Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.

A trend began to emerge when in Los Angeles’ mayoral showdown Richard Riordan blew out Clinton endorsee Michael Woo, a trend that became undeniable when on Nov. 2 three “national” Democrats lost to three Republicans in Virginia, New Jersey and New York.

Clinton has been on the receiving end of a series of political concussions that have laid bare the tenuous character of his victory a year ago. He is a minority President, and his capacity to argue any kind of mandate is now diminished beyond repair. Certainly the 22 Democrat incumbents in the Senate who face the electorate in 1994 have noticed--two have already thrown in the towel, and the others are maneuvering to establish a sizable amount of distance between themselves and the President.

As much as Republican partisans may want to cheer these results, there’s danger of mistaken identity, Yes, a whole bunch of Democrats have been toppled, but the GOP should not confuse these results with a surge in the party’s standing. Four years into the decade of dismay, and it’s abundantly clear that the voters have declared a pox on both parties’ houses. What appears to be happening is an abrupt and severe rejection of government and politicos. The passage of Proposition 140 and its term limits heralded the change. Ross Perot then unleashed this new populism and appears now to be its latest victim if public opinion in the wake of the Gore-Perot debate is to be believed. Gov. Pete Wilson’s new drop in approval ratings underscores the same phenomenon. At the local level, the inept fumbling around of the El Toro Marine base closing is taking a toll on the credibility of a score of elected officials, and the ham-handed tactics of the Air Quality Management District have rendered even a likeable fellow such as Henry W. Wedaa incapable of mustering enough votes for a second term of the district’s board of directors.

“(I) align myself with that smallest of minority groups,” wrote essayist Joseph Epstein some years ago, “the party of good sense.” Well, judging by all the data available, Epstein’s party is gaining ground rapidly.

Government has been failing at every level for a number of years now. Local governments can’t control crime. The state government can’t seem to staunch business-flight or improve a public school system that, in many areas such as Los Angeles, is near total collapse.

As for the national government, well, unemployment in California was 9.8% when Clinton was elected. A year later, it’s . . . 9.8%. The centerpiece of the President’s legislative program, health-care reform, was six months late in arriving on the Hill, and is now widely regarded as without momentum due to opposition from . . . moderate Democrats such as Tennessee’s Rep. Jim Cooper.

Even when particular segments of the public sector perform flawlessly and indeed impressively, as with the firefighters last month, still the perceived culprit turns out to be government--witness the backlash directed at the City Council in Laguna Beach, or at the conservation agencies in Riverside County blamed by fire victims there as enforcing policies that created the inferno.

The public cannot be blamed for its dismay. In fact, it ought to be encouraged to keep that disapproval stoked.

There is simply no excuse for the inability of local elected officials to close on a plan for El Toro. The only complicating factor is that politicians are uniformly afraid of being apportioned blame or being denied credit when the result arrives.

There is no excuse for the inability of state and local officials to anticipate the departure of hundreds of jobs from California, as with Fountain Valley’s AST, the giant computer maker.

There is no excuse for the failure of state and federal officials to have fashioned workable plans to protect the Stephens’ kangaroo rat, the California gnatcatcher, or the Delhi Sands flower-loving fly without imposing crushing and confiscatory burdens on private property owners.

And, of course, there’s no explanation for a level of violence that claims the lives of children from San Clemente to Pasadena.

Most folks live with the clear expectations of others as to acceptable performance. Businesses fold when owners or employees fail in their duties. Families implode when parents fail to do their jobs.

Only government goes on and on without regard for results. The public sector has become a kind of club for the unaccountable.

And voters have begun to notice.

The dissolution of faith in elected officials seems to benefit Republicans right now. But that comfort will be short-lived. An electorate dismayed with all politicians can simply swing in widely incoherent fashion. Even “safe” districts can become tumultuous.

No, incumbents and activists ought to concentrate on proposing and executing some basic tasks. The appeal to voters based on grand plans and “out-year” improvements is a thing of the past. The demand, loud and consistent, is for results. And soon.