President Clinton asked him to rescue his Administration's flagging image, is holidaying in Bermuda with his family.

The 51-year journalist is spending a few days on the Island before he takes on the job of counsellor to the President with responsibility for White House communications.

"Our kids have just come home from college and this is our best chance to get together with them before they scatter again,'' he told The Royal Gazette .

Mr. Gergen, who will have direct access to the Oval Office and a voice in US policy-making, said the President knew of his planned holiday before the appointment was announced.

He flies back to Washington on Wednesday where he will begin working to reverse the President's startling slide in public opinion.

Controversy continues to swirl over the Democratic President's appointment of Mr. Gergen, a veteran Republican who was communications director for Ronald Reagan, special assistant to Gerald Ford and a top speech writer for Richard Nixon.

Republicans have called him a turncoat and Democrats have bristled at the thought of him working on their turf.

But for Mr. Gergen, patriotism was the final consideration in joining the Clinton team. The country's needs, he said, far outweighed partisan concerns.

"The United States today faces very imposing problems that have built up over a long time,'' he said. "We've not made progress solving them. Schools, racial divisions, class divsions, declining wages -- these are problems that are going to require national solutions.

"It's important for people of whatever backgrounds and persuasions to deal with them. We can't drift through the 1990s, tearing each other down,'' he said. "President Clinton is trying to deal with it and if we can reach out and make it a national effort, people will respond. There is an enormous desire in the country to deal with it.'' Mr. Gergen's immediate concern will be to shore up the Administration's image, which has been battered by missteps such as the President's $200 haircut and an overall loss of direction.

"My immediate priority is to take a look around, get to know people, assess what they're doing and look for better ways to do things,'' he said.

"I've watched these people through the election campaign. They ran the best Democratic campaign in our lifetimes. They are extremely talented people now making the transition from campaigning to governing. But they have not been effective... I hope my experience will be helpful in moving that transition along.'' Mr. Gergen, seen as a moderae conservative, also plans to use his extensive contacts to ease the increasingly acrimonious relations that have developed between the Press and the White House.

Mr. Gergen also plans to use his place in the White House to restore the Administration's sense of direction -- which even the President acknowledged has been lost.

As editor-at-large for US News & World Report, Mr. Gergen wrote: "A good chunk of Clinton's problems are self-made. After his stirring State of the Union address adroit build-up of support for his budget plan, he lost focus.

Instead of sticking to the economy and jobs, he began dealing with a bewildering array of issues....'' Mr. Gergen, who helped sell Ronald Reagan's economic policies to America, indicated he will try to unify the White House mission.

"The way to make the White House work is to have a strong team with no freelancers and no individuals,'' he said.

Mr. Gergen said he was looking forward to having a real say in US policy. The policy role, he revealed, was part of the President's offer.

Mr. Gergen doesn't think he'll be with the President for the long haul. He has a strong desire to return to work as a journalist and to retain his identity as a Republican.

For now, however, he wants to enjoy time with his family.

One Bermuda memory that may cross his mind as he takes his place in the White House is his sore, scab-covered knee. On Sunday, 24 hours after taking the job to rescue the President, he crashed his moped at Horseshoe Bay while racing his kids.

"I went right off the bike and into the dirt,'' he said. PHOTO Mr. David Gergen.