LIBERTIES: JUST SAY MAYBE

I get no kick from writing about cocaine.

But the press is not out of bounds here. Whatever W. did in the past, he
has made his own white mischief in the present.

The problem lies in George Bush's packaging of his myth. W. understands
that the arc of a Presidential campaign follows the arc of a heroic
adventure. The candidate must slay the dragon or the giant.

As Joseph Campbell wrote: "A hero ventures forth from the world of common
day into a region of supernatural wonder; fabulous forces are there
encountered and a decisive victory is won; the hero comes back from this
mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man."

John F. Kennedy, Bob Dole, President Bush and John McCain offered
traditional conquests. They fought real enemies in war.

But boomers like Bill Clinton and George W. Bush who avoided Vietnam needed
to create domestic dragons and internal giants to kill. Mr. Clinton
dramatized his teen-age confrontation with his alcoholic, abusive stepfather.

Yuppie candidates play up painful odysseys of self-discovery. They slay the
Gorgon of addiction and the Hydra of self-indulgence. They present
themselves as redeemed, reborn (or born again) with the Arthurian virtues
- -- temperance, loyalty, courage.

W.'s myth (potent because it offers the classic plot line of succeeding his
father as ruler) has been much written about of late: He was, as his cousin
John Ellis said, "on the road to nowhere at age 40." In 1985, he had a
serious talk with Billy Graham at Kennebunkport. He quit drinking,
drifting, smoking and chewing tobacco and became a disciplined,
Bible-reading leader who "accepted Christ."

W. is perfectly content when the press hews to this story line: hothead and
goof-off metamorphoses into Presidential timber.

He'll talk about overcoming alcohol. He'll talk with pride about his
faithfulness to his wife because it offers a positive contrast with Bill
Clinton. Other "mistakes" are declared off limits.

But as in "Fantasia," once the demons are unleashed it's hard to contain
them. When you pick and choose which dragons you've slain, you shouldn't be
surprised when the press won't be spoon fed from a menu of sins you choose.

They'll also be interested in the ones you want to hide.

And in hiding, W. began to sound too much like the man he scorns, the
President -- parsing, tap-dancing, obscuring, trying to have it both ways,
dribbling out and selectively revealing the facts.

The Texas Governor's tough talk on crime also left him open. He signed a
punitive law in Texas that allowed judges to put people convicted of
possessing less than one gram of cocaine in jail. He is also the new
standard bearer of a party that has worked hard to demonize drug users as
weak and immoral sinners, best treated from a jail cell.

His reaction to the kerfuffle shows that he is still green in many ways. He
clumsily reversed his stance of not going beyond acknowledging youthful
"mistakes," boxing himself in by defining time periods when he did not do
illegal drugs. The coyness was unbearable. First it was seven years, then
it was 15 years, then it was 25 years. He grew ever more ill at ease and
peeved.

By the time he got to Fairlawn, Ohio, on Friday he was still deep in
Clintonspeak. "I think parents, particularly baby-boomer parents, ought to
say to children, 'Do not use drugs,' " Mr. Bush said. "I think we owe the
children that responsibility to share our wisdom. I worry about a society
that sends a different message. One of the interesting questions facing
baby boomers is, 'Have we grown up?' "

He was pressed by The Times's Adam Clymer: "And if a child asks a
baby-boomer parent, 'Well, did you?' "

He replied: "I think the baby-boomer parent ought to say, 'I've learned
from mistakes I may or may not have made.

And I'd like to share some wisdom with you.' "

Mistakes he may or may not have made? There's not a teen-ager in America
who would swallow that. It's not moral instruction. It's not even wisdom.
It's evasion.

Voters might accept a boomer candidate who admitted he dabbled in drugs.
They might welcome a candidate who said firmly and consistently "none of
your business." But they'll never accept a Bush who sounds like a Clinton.