CLINTON'S CURFEW

So President Bill Clinton, extending a bid to make himself either our national nanny, our national constable or our high school principal, wants to see curfews for juveniles. Last week's curfew announcement follows on the heels of presidential pronouncements favoring school uniforms, among so many others. Excuse a little cynicism, but when did these exclusively local, municipal and scholastic concerns become the business of the chief magistrate of the United States and commander-in-chief of our armed forces?

It is a leap year, of course. And that means we will elect a president in November. And that means it is time for the Clintons, who spent their first two years governing leftward, to begin making the right conservative noises.

One wonders: How many American cities of any size at all don't have curfews? Very few, we would wager. Almost certainly the list of those above a certain population that don't have them would be a much smaller one than the list of cities that do. Curfews have been a commonplace of local law enforcement for at least a generation or two. Cape Girardeau has long had a curfew. Instituted years ago, the curfew is 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and midnight Friday and Saturday for youngsters under 17. Jackson officials haven't seen the need for one in their community, but they do have one that covers everybody (11 p.m.) in the city park.

Presidents ought to confine themselves to matters of national concern, such as national defense and an out-of-control budgetary process. Leave the curfews to the city councils who are, after all, so much closer to the folks they govern.