Bush Hits Critics of Social Policies in Caltech Talk

Insisting that “I am not a government basher,” President Bush continued his assault Friday on critics of his social policies and declared that his Administration favors an appropriate role for federal assistance to help solve the nation’s domestic woes.

“I’m not against government per se,” Bush told a commencement audience at Caltech in Pasadena.

As a series of AIDS activists and abortion rights advocates punctuated his remarks with chants and unfurled banners, Bush expressed frustration that his Administration’s domestic agenda has been bottled up by “Beltway bickering,” a reference to politics inside the roadway that circles Washington.

He repeated the themes of his Wednesday night speech on the White House South Lawn, saying government should be only a partner in a national effort to solve domestic problems and not the sole source of programs and money.

Before leaving Washington early Friday morning for the weekend visit to Southern California, Bush said that he is keeping his schedule open for a meeting with Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev before the end of the month.

His comments on the summit appeared to contradict White House officials, who earlier this week had ruled out the likelihood of a meeting between the two leaders before July. Moreover, Bush reignited speculation that the Administration is still pressing the Soviets to accept its conditions, which are reportedly blocking the formal signing of the strategic arms reduction treaty.

Under a START agreement, both the U.S. and Soviet governments are expected to cut their respective nuclear stockpiles by 30%.

“As far as we’re concerned, if we can get the difficulties on START worked out,” Bush told reporters traveling with him on Air Force One, “we can still have a meeting at the end of June.”

Bush told reporters also that Soviet economic reforms “have got to be detailed a bit more before blank checks are written” to bail them out of their economic problems. “We’re not rolling in cash,” Bush said. “We’ve got big deficits, we’ve got enormous problems ourselves. And my first interest is the American people.”

In his speech to the Caltech graduates, however, Bush didn’t specifically detail any of the nation’s domestic problems but indirectly acknowledged their existence. “Whether in schools, in child-care centers or factories or neighborhoods, we must ensure that government is part of the solution--not part of the problem,” he said.

Bush challenged the graduates to believe that a mix of government programs, private contributions and citizen involvement can solve the nation’s domestic problems. “We must combine the might of the free market and intelligent government with something else: the brilliance of those who make a difference in the lives of others,” Bush said. “Whether you’re drawn to the magic of the marketplace, to the honor of public service or the ethic of serving others, each of you will be building an America whole and good.”

But Bush lashed out at congressional Democrats, who have angrily complained that the President has done little to address the nation’s social and domestic problems. Democratic congressional leaders such as House Speaker Thomas S. Foley of Washington, House Majority Leader Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri and Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell of Maine have argued that Congress has done most of the heavy lifting on domestic issues, with the President scoring political points at lawmakers’ expense by issuing a 100-day deadline to enact legislation.

Further, Democrats say the President would rather deal with Gorbachev, the offer of preferred trading status to China or negotiations in the Arab-Israeli conflict than grapple with the U.S. economy or other issues closer to home.

Bush, bristling at such complaints, responded by telling the Caltech graduates that, because “most Americans find Beltway bickering mystifying,” Congress should “think of nobler issues and purposes” and embrace the Administration’s domestic agenda.

He then noted once again that Congress has not passed his crime and transportation bills even though “I sent that crime bill to the Hill 24 months ago. The American people don’t understand what’s so hard about passing a bill in 100 days to fight crime,” he said. “Neither bill has reached my desk--and the American people, as they look at our system, don’t understand why.”

Bush drew applause when he rebuffed Democrats who urge him to propose programs, saying that “we in government must understand bigger isn’t better; better is better.”

After his speech, Bush attended a Dodgers baseball game Friday night.

Bush plans to play golf with former President Ronald Reagan today and attend a private dinner at the home of motion picture producer Jerry Weintraub. On Sunday, he is expected to be the guest of honor at an Asian-Pacific American Salute in Orange County and to attend a dinner sponsored by the Simon Wiesenthal Center.