The President sought to take back from Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, the majority leader and a leading Republican Presidential aspirant, the issue of violence in pop music and movies. Mr. Clinton said he agreed with Mr. Dole, who recently criticized those mediums, and pointed out that he had spoken out in the Presidential campaign against rap lyrics and against movie violence in his State of the Union Message.

"If I had any criticism it would be that the whole thing has been politicized," he said.

He also hinted that he would be intrigued by a campaign matchup against Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia. "It would be interesting," Mr. Clinton said with a grin when asked about the possibility that Mr. Gingrich might end up with the Republican nomination.

On foreign policy issues, Mr. Clinton struck a hard line on trade talks with Japan, saying the United States would not back down in its insistence that Japan open its markets to American cars and car parts.

"We have to be firm here," he said. "I have done everything that I could for two and a half years to have a good, constructive, friendly relationship with Japan. We are allies. We are friends, but we must be firm on this."

Mr. Clinton vigorously defended his Administration's policy toward Bosnia, saying the United States had worked with allies to try to contain the Balkan war and provide a humanitarian airlift. He compared the 130,000 people killed in Bosnia in 1992 with the fewer than 3,000 fatalities last year, saying, "That's still tragic, but I hardly think that constitutes a colossal failure." He did not, however, explaining that the Serbs were battling to take territory in the early months of the conflict, contributing to the higher figure.

The President repeated his contention, first voiced in a radio address on Saturday, that if American troops are needed to help European allies with peacekeeping troops in Bosnia, they would be used in only limited circumstances. "If the U.N. has to pull out, they're our NATO allies and they need us, I'd be inclined to help them," Mr. Clinton said. "But we shouldn't be involved on the ground there."

On the Middle East, Mr. Clinton expressed confidence that President Hafez al-Assad of Syria wants peace and that a comprehensive agreement could be reached this year.