Dukakis Rally Hails the Immigrant Dream : Reagan Pins ‘Liberal’ Label on Convention

President Reagan jumped into the battle over his successor Saturday, attacking the Democrats who have just broken camp in Atlanta for ignoring the accomplishments of his two terms, and saying that, to them, “it’s midnight in America.”

In his first public comments on the Democratic National Convention, Reagan sought to attach the “liberal” label to everything he had heard from Atlanta, applying the same fervor to his mission that the Democrats applied to appealing to a wide spectrum of voters and projecting a unified middle-of-the-road party.

And like the Democrats about whom he complained, he held little back in making his sentiments known, even though he mentioned neither their nominee, Massachusetts Gov. Michael S. Dukakis, nor Vice President George Bush, the certain Republican choice, by name.

“Our liberal opposition seems to think so much is bad in America,” Reagan said in his weekly radio address, delivered from his ranch in the Santa Ynez Mountains northwest of Santa Barbara. “To hear them talk, you would never have guessed that we’re in the longest peacetime economic expansion on record, that America has created over 17 million jobs in the last five years . . . .

“No, listening to the rhetoric, you’d never have guessed America’s economy is the strongest in decades. To them, it’s midnight in America,” he said, turning around the “morning in America” theme of his reelection campaign in 1984.

He also criticized the Democrats for failing to deliver “straight talk” about their plans for the nation, rather than “personal attacks.”

The President’s address reflected Republican efforts to counter the Democrats’ attacks on Bush by citing improvements in the economy and in U.S.-Soviet relations and asking of the Democrats: “Do they want to turn that around?”

Democratic Response

Reagan’s view of the economy was challenged by Arkansas Rep. Beryl Anthony Jr., chairman of the House Democratic Campaign Committee, in the regular Democratic response to the President’s broadcast.

Predicting that Republican campaigners this fall “will brag about low unemployment, low inflation and sustained growth,” Anthony told his listeners, “We’ve paid a big price for those bragging rights” with plant shutdowns in Midwestern cities and distress in the Farm Belt. “If you brag about sustained growth in Oklahoma and Louisiana,” he said, “the folks there would laugh, or maybe cry.”

The President’s highly political speech represented just one of the elements of the agenda in his remaining time in office--now just under six months--as he and his staff juggle the demands of the campaign, foreign policy efforts and legislative issues.

At the same time, even with his time in office shrinking, they are closely monitoring his standing with the public.

‘Got to Keep Moving’

“You’ve got to keep moving so the President’s approval rating remains fairly steady,” one Administration official said. “A positive reaction to the President is very beneficial to the vice president.”

Such concerns have led officials to treat with kid gloves the politically controversial subject of the legislation passed by Congress requiring that workers be given 60 days’ notice of plant closings.

Although a similar provision led to Reagan’s veto of a trade bill on May 24, White House officials have been skittish about saying the President will veto the more recent measure, even as they say that nothing should be read into their reluctance to forecast the expected veto.

With Congress facing an abbreviated schedule--its work before adjourning for election campaigning in October will be interrupted by the Republican National Convention next month and by an August vacation--the window for legislative accomplishments on the part of the Administration is closing. Priority is being given to ratification of a free trade pact with Canada, a housing bill and some form of assistance for the Nicaraguan Contras .

Halving the Arsenals

In foreign policy, while the Administration is pressing ahead on efforts to reach an agreement with the Soviet Union halving the superpowers’ arsenals of long-range nuclear weapons, officials do not expect the Geneva talks to bear fruit before Reagan leaves office.

Instead, the focus is shifting to a series of regional issues in which there have been sudden signs of movement, particularly in southern Africa.

The President’s remarks in the five-minute broadcast Saturday represented the sort of public role he is expected to play in the autumn, as he divides his time between campaign chores on behalf of Bush, and less political tasks.

“That’s what you’re going to hear,” White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said.

But the proper political approach for Reagan is a subject of some debate among White House staff members and other Republicans.

Cementing Bush’s Support

Of all the Administration surrogates Bush will muster for his cause, Reagan is by far the most important--not just as President but as the conservative leader who is seeking to place Bush firmly in the mainstream of conservative thought, to cement the vice president’s support among Reagan’s own constituency.

One White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that in the typical political speech, Reagan might spend only 20% of his time drawing the audience’s attention to the qualifications of the two candidates, and the rest warning of the dangers of returning to the Democrats’ policies that were in place before he took office.

On Saturday, in fact, Reagan ignored Dukakis and Bush as individual candidates and took a broader approach, saying: “The last time our opponents were in charge, America did a heck of a lot worse.”

Bush’s Role Masked

But, the White House official said, Reagan might find it politically more beneficial on occasion to talk about Bush’s role, which has been generally masked before the public, in the Reagan Administration--an era that White House officials are now pointedly referring to as the “Reagan-Bush Administration.”

Bush, the White House official said, “doesn’t have a record of achievement in the job he’s held, so you talk about what he’s been part of, and his ability to take it further.”

The President also is expected to continue to attack Dukakis, as he did in Florida last month, as a “true liberal.” Reagan, a close adviser to Bush said, “has a great ability to command public attention as to what the record is. He did that very effectively in Florida. That was very good, very good.”

But in carrying his message, Reagan must take care that he is complementing Bush’s approach and not roiling the political waters to the point that he makes voters uneasy, one senior White House official suggested.

The voters, he said, “look at the President as a calming influence who has a positive message to deliver. It will turn people off if the President becomes the heavy.”