Bush Calls Critics of His Foreign Efforts Isolationists and Says, ‘I Will Not Change’ : Politics: In Midwest appearances, President angrily defends his overseas policies as related to domestic problems.

Still upset by Democrats’ criticism that he has ignored the domestic problems troubling American voters while devoting his attention to foreign concerns, President Bush angrily accused his critics Wednesday of advocating an isolationist course.

And, he declared, “I will not change my ways.”

In a speech to the 64th national convention of the FFA, an organization of young would-be farmers, Bush plowed through a crop of economic issues to demonstrate his concern for domestic matters and defended his efforts to link foreign policy with the needs of “Birmingham and Bakersfield and the Silicon Valley.”

“When I fight for free and fair trade in Latin America or East Asia or Europe, some will carp and claim that I’m pursuing foreign instead of domestic policy. Well, to borrow a word you all understand: That--and I’ll try to clean it up for you--that’s hogwash. That whole line of argument is misleading,” Bush said, demonstrating the pique that has burst into his public appearances in recent days.

Bush listed foreign events, such as the Middle East peace talks in Madrid two weeks ago and the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August, 1990, that have drawn his attention recently and said: “I owe it to your generation and the next generation . . . . I’ll continue to work for world peace.

“So let the isolationists turn their backs on the historic opportunities that are before us. I cannot give up on the quest for peace on Earth.”

The President’s daylong visit to the Midwest--he met with the FFA, formerly called the Future Farmers of America, in Kansas City, spoke to a fund-raising dinner for Sen. Christopher S. Bond’s reelection campaign in St. Louis and, in a throwback to his 1988 campaign, sat down for brief interviews by local television reporters--reflected the domestic themes and politicking style that Bush is trying out as his still unofficial reelection campaign begins to take shape.

The themes demonstrated an effort to undercut the Democrats’ charges that Bush spent the first three years of his presidency gazing--and traveling--overseas while overlooking a suffering economy in his own back yard.

The President’s favored target of late has been Congress, where Democrats hold majorities in the House and Senate, and its liberals in particular.

“The liberals don’t seem to understand (that) federal money is your money,” he said at the Bond fund-raiser. “While the people seek action, liberals in Congress hold their press conferences, sell their funny little T-shirts and sabotage the initiatives the American people want, and I’m sick and tired of it . . . . They talk about fairness but are intent on class warfare. It’s funny how this war cry, ‘Soak the rich,’ usually ends up taxing everyone more. We’re all in this together, and we can’t be divided by Democratic demagoguery.”

He took a similar, but toned-down, approach in speaking to the farm group, accusing Congress of thwarting his efforts to achieve a capital gains tax cut and reform the nation’s banking system.

“We need to take the shackles off our banks and financial services companies,” he said. “Would you want to start out in business with outmoded banking laws that won’t allow American firms to compete on equal terms with the Japanese and Europeans?”

The President has called for sweeping legislation that would let banks diversify and thus reduce their risks. He would expand banks’ powers in many areas, lifting old restrictions against crossing state lines and against entering the insurance and securities businesses.

Still, the Administration opposed the one major banking bill that had been the focus of reform efforts. The bill’s resounding defeat earlier this month in the House suggested that whatever legislation is passed will be far narrower than Bush has sought.

Under pressure from Democrats who are trying to tie the President’s intense interest in foreign policy to suggestions that he has failed in his stewardship of the economy, Bush--still hot under the collar after hammering at the same theme for more than a week--told the would-be farmers dressed in the organization’s trademark blue jackets with gold trim:

“Some of my critics act as if the global marketplace is off somewhere in Asia or Europe. But you and I know it’s right here in Kansas City--and in Birmingham and Bakersfield and Silicon Valley.”

Similarly, in St. Louis, he sought not only to justify his foreign policy efforts but to capitalize on areas generally seen as successful.

Was the victory over Saddam Hussein foreign or domestic? he asked. “Is it right to work with (Soviet President Mikhail S.) Gorbachev and (Russian Federation President Boris N.) Yeltsin for exciting, peaceful change? Or is that neglecting my job?”