Bush calls out to voters with 'Clinton fatigue; vows to uphold values
■ The presidental candi
ate said Clintot didn't live
up to his potential.
.BY BRIAN CAftLSQN
PHILADELPHIA - Accusing
the Clinton administration of
coasting through prosperity,”
George W. Bush told the
Republican National
Convention on Aug. 3 that he
wanted to usher in a "responsi
bility era."
"Our generation has a
I—
chance to reclaim some essen
tial values - to show we have
grown up before we grow old,”
Bush said. "But when the
moment for leadership came,
this administration did not
teach our children, it disillu
sioned them. They had their
chance. They have not led. We
will.
"And now they come asking
for another chance, another
shot,” he said. “Our answer? Not
this time. Not this year.”
Bush repeatedly accused
President Bill Clinton and Vice
President A1 Gore, the
Democratic presidential nomi
nee, of failing to provide leader
ship.
“Our current president
embodied the potential of a
generation,” he said. “So many
talents. So much charm. Such
great skill. But, in the end, to
what end? So much promise, to
no great purpose.”
At last week’s Democratic
National Convention in Los
Angeles, Clinton and Gore
argued that the Democratic
ticket of Gore and Connecticut
Sen. Joseph Lieberman was best
equipped to continue the eco
nomic prosperity of the Clinton
years.
But Bush, promoting his
message of "compassionate
conservatism,” said the country
also demands character and
leadership in its president.
"Prosperity can be a tool in
our hands, used to build and
better our country,” he said. “Or
it can be a drug in our system,
dulling our sense of urgency, of
empathy, of duty. We will use
these good tinges for great
goals.”
Arizona Sen. John McCain,
who lost a bitterly contested pri
mary campaign to Bush, put
behind any lingering resent
ment at the convention and
forcefully endorsed Bush.
"I am proud to join you this
evening in commending to all
I
Americans the man who now
represents your best wishes and
mine for tire future of our coun
try, my friend, George W. Bush,”
said McCain, who has since
been diagnosed with skin can
cer and underwent surgery
Saturday.
Bush heaped ridicule on
Gore for claiming that many of
Bush’s proposals were "risky
schemes."
He said Gore’s message
amounted to "the politics of the
roadblock, the philosophy of the
stop sign.”
Among the Bush proposals
that Gore has called "risky* are
his plan to return federal budget
surpluses through a tax cut of
more than $1 trillion and to
allow workers to invest a portion
of their Social Security payroll
taxes in private investment
accounts.
Bush vigorously defended
said, no Americanshould pay
more than one-third of his or
her income in federal income
taxes.
"The surplus is not the gov
ernment’s money,” he said. "The
surplus is the people’s money.”
By allowing younger workers
to invest 2 percentage points of
their 12 percent payroll tax in
private investments, the govern
ment can help those workers
increase their retirement sav
ings, he said. '
"This will mean a higher
return on your money and, over
30 or 40 years, a nest egg to help
your retirement, or pass along to
your children,” he said.
Bush's speech capped a con
vention billed as the "reinven
tion” of the Republican Party.
In accordance with Bush’s
theme of compassionate con
servatism, the convention con
sisted mostly of upbeat speech
es and included a full slate of
minority speakers.
For Bush, the speech was a
chance to tap into a sense of
"Clinton fatigue” among the
public and urge voters to forge a
new beginning.
"My fellow citizens, we can
begin again,” Bush said. "After
all of the shouting, and all of the
scandal, after all of the bitter
ness and broken faith, we can
begin again.”
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