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DURING HIS EIGHT YEARS at TIME, Michael Duffy has studied the mysteries of the Pentagon, covered the Gulf War as a pool reporter on the cruiser U.S.S. Fox and examined the workings of the Bush presidency. But, says the White House correspondent, few stories have proved as daunting as this week's attempt to understand and describe the way President Clinton arrives at decisions, "The State of Bill Clinton."

$ Duffy spoke with 70 White House officials for the story, but he still believes that he has only glimpsed the inner workings of this President's mind. At least he isn't alone: many members of the White House staff Duffy interviewed were equally mystified by their boss's approach to running the country. "When we want to torture people, we make them draw a flow chart of how decisions are made," joked a senior official. Says Duffy: "In the Bush White House, if I could get to any of three key people, I knew what was going on. In this White House there are two dozen people to get to, but as often as not there is no agreement about what something means."

A year into the Clinton Administration, Duffy is still struck by the contrast between this President and his predecessor. It is, he says, the difference "between covering a game of checkers and a game of three- dimensional chess. Clinton is a much more complex politician than Bush, and his agenda is as sprawling as his management style." The Bush White House ran with almost military precision, even when its direction was unclear, Duffy says, while Clinton and his staff have a strong sense of direction but are constantly rushing to catch up with themselves. In person, Duffy finds the two Presidents quite dissimilar. Despite Clinton's reputation for seeking instant intimacy, he is far less accessible than Bush, who loved to schmooze with reporters.

If the Clinton White House is more wary of the press than the Bush Administration was, senior White House officials still appreciate good reportorial skills. In the annual survey of the press published in the White House Bulletin, an insider newsletter, Duffy was the runaway leader in the voting for the best newsweekly reporter. "He knows the people here pretty well and can read between the lines," one official is reported as saying. Duffy expresses horror at the thought of receiving praise from notoriously manipulative sources, noting ruefully that "this may be a very dubious honor."