Clinton Calls On Youths to Help Curb Violence : Crime: He promotes his national service program at Brooklyn College. He urges politicians to lower their own level of hostilities.

President Clinton urged young people Thursday to join in neighborhood efforts to reduce violence--and pointedly called on his neighbors in Washington’s political precincts to tone down their own level of hostilities.

In a speech pitching his Americorps national service plan to students at Brooklyn College, Clinton likened the social impact of Washington’s political combat to that created by “the cumulative, instantaneous, reactive, macho violence you see in media entertainment programs.”

“When people turn on television and they see their national government, what do you inevitably see?” Clinton said. “People with words, using extreme words to characterize conduct or activity or positions. The other politicians do it, the media do it; always trying to twist it like taffy to the nth degree.”

The President included his own behavior in his criticism, adding: “I think all of us in positions of public responsibility need to think about that, need to think about what kind of message we are sending to young people when they see that kind of conduct.”

Clinton never mentioned the ongoing controversy over his financial dealings in the Whitewater real estate partnership in Arkansas. But the flap has turned the last several weeks into some of the most bruising of his presidency. Although a federal prosecutor already is investigating allegations that Clinton may have benefited improperly from his investment in the Whitewater Development Corp. and his relationship with the former owner of a failed savings and loan, Republicans have intensified their efforts to force congressional hearings on the matter.

“I don’t know how many people--I’ve had older members of the Congress tell me just in the last week how much meaner and partisan and negative the national arena is,” Clinton said.

Throughout the speech, Clinton wove together three of his favorite themes--crime reduction, national service and spiritual renewal--in a call for Americans to help “reclaim our streets, our schools, our communities and our lives.”

Evoking the memory of Kitty Genovese--a young woman murdered 30 years ago in the neighboring New York borough of Queens while dozens of neighbors ignored her cries for help--Clinton portrayed his national service plan as a way for Americans to both combat crime and rebuild lapsed bonds of community. “It is not enough for any of us to ever say again what was said here 30 years ago: ‘I don’t want to get involved,’ ” he said.

The President’s national service program, which allows young people to earn college scholarship money by working in neighborhood organizations, will begin this summer. In a so-called “summer of safety,” Americorps intends to place about 6,000 volunteers in anti-crime initiatives, ranging from support positions in police departments to youth counseling programs. The full program, which will begin this fall, is expected to place as many as 20,000 volunteers in an array of service groups.

Later in the day, Clinton toured a Brooklyn police precinct and met privately with Rudolph W. Giuliani, New York’s Republican mayor. Giuliani had refused to attend the Brooklyn College forum.