Lame-Duck Tag Is ‘for the Birds,’ President Says

President Reagan, continuing to ignore the testimony of former aide Lt. Col. Oliver L. North before the congressional committees investigating the Iran- contra affair, told an outdoor rally Wednesday that talk of a “lame duck” presidency “is for the birds.”

Leaving behind the problems on Capitol Hill, where North was appearing for a second day and Democratic members of Congress were resisting the President’s plan to protect Kuwaiti oil tankers flying the U.S. flag in the Persian Gulf, Reagan found a friendly audience in this small New England industrial city.

He used the visit to hark back to a favorite and well-used theme--the inflation that prevailed at the end of the 1970s--and warned that “the big spenders think they’re in the driver’s seat again in Washington.”

Careful White House Plan

The trip to central Connecticut was part of a carefully conceived plan to send the President on the road throughout the summer, placing him in front of supportive crowds and drawing attention to his economic program, while Congress works on its version of the budget and examines the Iran-contra affair in Washington.

Indeed, on May 6--when retired Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord testified on the second day of the Iran-contra inquiry--Reagan spoke on trade issues before a crowd of workers at a Harley-Davidson motorcycle plant in York, Pa.

And, while North testified on Tuesday, senior White House officials met to review the plans for the President’s annual vacation at his ranch northwest of Santa Barbara, Calif., and to determine what activities they can schedule during the holiday to keep the President in the public eye.

In New Britain, the White House found the audience it had sought--with guests of the local Chamber of Commerce given special VIP tickets to place them at the front of the crowd. A young man carrying a sign calling North “our hero” drew scattered applause as he paraded through the crowd before Reagan arrived.

Balloon Hauled Down

A balloon on which the words “Impeachment is in your future” were written, bobbed up and down until it was hauled down by someone in the crowd and popped.

In his remarks, the President made no mention of North, the hearings, or another controversy in Washington--his effort to place federal appellate Judge Robert H. Bork on the Supreme Court.

But, in a brief speech to community leaders after lunch in the basement dining room of the Elks Lodge, Reagan said his critics have suggested that his recent focus on what he calls an “economic bill of rights” was “a ploy--something I’ve cooked up to distract attention from whatever . . . .”

“I’ve got nothing to say until the hearings are over,” Reagan said later, in response to a shouted question from reporters, who were kept at a distance from the President during the trip.

Read About Hearings

On the flight to Connecticut aboard Air Force One, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said Reagan, who ignored the live broadcasts of the inquiry on Tuesday, had watched some of the television coverage in the evening and read newspaper accounts Wednesday.

The spokesman said he did not know if the President was concerned about whether the disclosures in the hearings were creating the impression of a cover-up by government officials.

“The President hasn’t expressed any view one way or the other,” Fitzwater said.

In the speech, Reagan, standing in front of the brick and sandstone City Hall built at the turn of the century, told several thousand people:

“You may have heard some people talk about a certain lame duck and about the end of an era. Well, all that lame duck talk is for the birds.”

The President’s strategists, however, recognize that the calendar is not on their side. With Reagan facing fights on remaining elements of his domestic and foreign agenda, and on the Bork nomination, they are striving to drum up as much support as possible before 1988 and the next presidential election campaign.