Settling into my usual guilty-pleasure lineup of Thursday night television viewing, I was disturbed to find that President Clinton was delaying regular broadcast to present his Farewell Address.

After all the scandals, the impeachment, legal actions, political realignments and other fomentations, how would Boomer President choose to go out? This was the last chance for him to declare, once and for all, that U.F.O.s are real, or to reveal some hidden facts about the J.F.K. assassination. An Eisenhower-like "military-industrial complex" revelation on his political deathbed that might make him seem cool again to me.

Clinton skimmed Ike territory for a second, then pulled back. He said that "global poverty is a powder keg that could be ignited by our indifference." Very nice recognition for the more than two billion humans now living in poverty. It would have been a nicer recognition if it had come in 1993, followed by meaningful action.

For the past month, the flurry of activity by Clinton has been unprecedented during his eight years in office, In an attempt to more clearly define his "legacy," he has signed, ordered and acted on a host of subjects that were largely ignored during his presidency. Some of these acts will be withdrawn by the new administration and Congress within weeks. There was a sweeping executive order protecting national forests from exploitation and new regulations regarding medical privacy and worker safety. It's been a busy December and January.

To me, Clinton will be a series of contradictions. This is a poor-boy-makes-good president who helped throw millions of women off the welfare rolls because, by implication, their sex lives were unacceptable and they'd had children out-of-wedlock.

Yes, the economy has been good for many, but we could have just re-elected George Bush in 1992 and gotten Alan Greenspan. More telling is the fact that we have in place plans to launch an unprecedented missile race and no plans to significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions which are bringing about a catastrophic climate change.

We could go on and on. We won't.

On his way to and from his presidential office on 57th Street, his motorcade will clog bridge access to Long Island on a daily basis. As he makes the rounds at East Side Grill and other places, parties and people I will never see up close, he will be in our newspapers, and on our television. "Love me, love my legacy," he is already saying.

Anyone who can push the Democratic Party into becoming a free-trade organization deserves credit and admiration for some kind of political skill. Just don't ask me to embrace it or celebrate it.