‘Very Important Viewers’ Parse President’s <i> Mea Culpa</i>

When President Clinton delivers a State of the Union address, members of Congress experience it live, taking in his pronouncements, applause lines and gravelly voice from across the room.

But Monday night’s extraordinary mea culpa left lawmakers in the same position as every other interested American--staring at the president’s image on a television screen far from the executive mansion.

With Congress on a monthlong recess, members tuned in from family vacations and fund-raisers. They interrupted town-hall meetings and overseas trips. Some of these very important viewers--those who could decide whether the Monica S. Lewinsky case lives or dies--watched from television studios to facilitate their instant on-camera reactions.

It was an address that lawmakers had been calling on Clinton to make, a necessary step, they had said, to end a controversy that has consumed official Washington. The question now was whether it was enough.

“The day of accountability is here,” Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) declared midway through Clinton’s closed-door testimony and hours before Clinton’s evening address.

After Clinton had apologized for “a critical lapse in judgment and a personal failure on my part,” Hatch praised him for taking responsibility but criticized his attacks on independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr. As for impeachment, Hatch said, it will depend on what else is revealed.

“If there’s more--subornation of perjury, obstruction of justice, conspiracy--then that’s another problem,” Hatch said in a late-night appearance on Cable News Network. “We’re going to have to wait and see what Judge Starr’s report actually says.”

But Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat, agreed with Clinton’s contention in the speech that Starr’s inquiry has gone on far too long.

“We are all human,” Harkin said. “We all make mistakes--even a president.”

And Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee, downplayed the chance of impeachment.

“To talk about impeachment I think is a very grave error,” Frank said in an appearance on Fox News. “We do not have here any misuse of the presidency itself. You had a personal failing.”

Not all Democrats, however, were willing to back their president so soon after hearing his flip-flop. “Nobody’s jumping ship,” explained one well-placed Democratic congressional aide. “But some Democrats seem to be sending a subliminal message to Clinton through their silence.”

When Clinton finished what surely had to be the toughest speech he has ever had to deliver, it was impossible to determine whether his day of reckoning had salvaged his presidency or merely signaled the next phase in the showdown. For that, only time--and the results of Starr’s long investigation--will tell.

Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), who worked in the White House counsel’s office during the Reagan administration, seemed to signal that impeachment was not likely, although his words were full of disgust.

“Given what it is the president has lied about, it jeopardizes far more the dignity of the office than his legal standing in office,” said Cox, one of the few lawmakers left in Washington.

For every lawmaker willing to weigh in on the controversy, many more--especially those who will play key roles in how the case plays out next--remained silent.

They include House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.)--who will weigh the political implications of pushing the matter to impeachment--and House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), the key figure in balancing the best interests of congressional Democrats with those of the president.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.), who will receive Starr’s final report on the case, was returning home from vacation and was unavailable for comment, according to an aide.

Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), the Judiciary Committee’s ranking minority member, was set to appear on CNN’s “Larry King Live” when he decided that he ought to wait a day for all the facts to come in.

Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, predicted extensive dicing of the president’s words in coming days and weeks. In fact, such deconstruction began immediately after the president said good night.

“I was surprised by his harsh tone toward Kenneth Starr,” Hutchinson said in a post-speech interview. “That seemed inconsistent with his tone of taking responsibility.”

Another Republican did not believe that Clinton had been contrite enough.

“I’m talking from the state of Missouri. We had a president who took responsibility, who said, ‘The buck stops here,’ ” Sen. John Ashcroft (R-Mo.) said after the speech. “President Clinton went on television tonight and said the buck stops at the independent counsel’s office. He shifted responsibility.”