AS THE FEDS GIVE MORE POWER TO THE STATES, WE BECOME LESS AMERICAN.(PERSPECTIVE)

Byline: George Will

WASHINGTON -- In his first inaugural address, President Clinton packed into his 40-word peroration a congestion of cliches. There was ``a call,'' issued from a ``mountaintop,'' to ``service in the valley.'' There were ``trumpets,'' too, and an assurance that ``we have changed the guard.'' Still, style isn't everything, and if such an address is supposed to set the tone of the president's term, the address was a success.

At the beginning of the address, Clinton said, ``Each generation of Americans must define what it means to be an American.'' But at the end he said, ``Today . . . we rededicate ourselves to the very idea of America.'' Let's see: Although there is some enduring ``very idea of America'' to which we should …