WHITE HOUSE COASTS ON AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

A rough draft of President Clinton's officialpronouncement on affirmative action"leaves the bulk of those programs unchanged," according to James Carney, TIME White House correspondent. As such, the sweeping review ordered up by the President in response to Republican attacks on affirmative action seems likely only to backfire. Designed to assuage the opposition to affirmative action restrictions (a position characterized in the draft as"white male resentment"), while reassuring traditional liberal constituencies, the report, says Carney, "is a lose-lose proposition - the starting point for Republican attacks." President Clinton is expected to unveil the findings in a major speech several weeks from now.