c. 1998 MSNBC on the Internet.)

UNDATED _ Many of those present for Bill Clinton’s prayer breakfast repentance were moved. Unlike his August 17 address to the nation, this speech was contrite enough to convince. Of course, many of his spiritual advisers have been counseling Clinton for many months to tell the truth about his sex with a White House intern, for the sake of his own soul, his family and the nation.

To admit”sin”now, after having been caught by a relentless prosecutor, cornered by a grand jury, and run out of delaying and obfuscating tactics clearly has not persuaded everyone of the sincerity of the president’s repentance. My religious mother (who voted for Clinton) put it this way:”He didn’t really repent, he just got caught.” But even foxhole conversions can be genuine. In the wave of ever-stronger reactions to the president’s”immoral”and”disgraceful”behavior, even from his own party members, Clinton is becoming increasingly sorry, but he still wants the nation to forgive him and”move on.” By anyone’s definitions, Bill Clinton has much to repent of. But maybe, so do the rest of us. Much has been said about Clinton being the first baby boomer. The now terribly public revelations of the president’s behavior are embarrassing to many of his generation.

But while Bill Clinton may be characteristically excessive, are their ways that his behavioral style is all too representative of an America led by our generation?

While Clinton’s moral failures are astounding, are they also archetypal, and do they give us all reason for reflection? Perhaps there is more to repent of here than just Clinton’s betrayal of his family and the public trust.

Should we repent for thinking that being smart matters most and that if you’re very bright, talented and aggressive, you can get away with a lot?

The only way to make sense of Clinton’s reckless and self-indulgent behavior with Monica Lewinsky is that he must have thought he could get away with it, or even that he ought to be able to.

How many of the rest of us think that same way?

Should we repent for thinking that being liked by everybody can get you anything we want? Or that working the room is more important than working on your own character? Clinton has a way of telling everybody what they want to hear. He has never been known to be guided by a consistent moral compass.

But isn’t this flexible moral style highly rewarded these days? Does anyone argue with success anymore, no matter the means used to achieve it?

Should we repent for thinking that style really is more important than substance? In a famous television advertisement, tennis star Andre Agassi,perhaps said it best,”Image is everything.”Clinton knows that in our society, looking good is more important than being good. How many of us live by that same maxim?

Should we repent for thinking that getting people to believe you is more important than telling the truth?

Clinton, who has the most comfortable style we have yet seen in the White House, seems uncomfortable with truth-telling, and not just in regard to private matters. But is Clinton the only one these days who thinks spin doctors are the best advisers?

Should we repent for thinking that power and success allow us to break the rules, or that playing the game is fine as long as you don’t get caught?

Surely Bill Clinton is not the only powerful person, inside and outside Washington, to believe that power entitles us to more benefits, instead of demanding of us more service to others.

Should we repent for our arrogance and egotism _ and for the recklessness that risks the really important things in life for passing pleasures? Taking stupid chances that could compromise or destroy valuable relationships and accomplishments is hardly just a characteristic of the leader in the White House.

These must be the hardest and loneliest days in Bill Clinton’s life.

Let’s hope that’s not just because of his struggle for political survival, but also the result of intense self-examination and a deeper search for integrity than he has perhaps ever known before.

But regardless of how the President works out his repentance, these tragic events must be the occasion for reflection on all our parts. There are lessons here for each of our lives, families and careers.

To invoke the name of God, offer the admission of sin, and own the work of repentance are, indeed, powerful things. But politicians and ordinary citizens should be careful: you never know where repentance might lead. We are all weary of these tragic events. Resignation or impeachment are the political topics now, but the real issue here is moral accountability.

How will moral accountability happen with Bill Clinton? Or with the rest of us? How could his genuine repentance _ and ours _ begin to teach our nation something about real spiritual values?

AB END RNS