President Blasts His Critics as ‘Professional Pessimists’

President Bush fought back Tuesday with blunt words against critics of his tax and budget proposals, deriding their “political carping” and demanding anew that Congress enact his economic growth plan unaltered.

As Democratic lawmakers and governors again demanded that the President’s package be revamped, Bush labeled his opponents “professional pessimists” and insisted that his plan is fair in ways they have overlooked.

Striking a newly rigid stance in an address before the National Grocers Assn. here, Bush insisted that Congress meet his March 20 deadline for passing a growth package as well as his declared standard for its contents.

“Accept no excuses,” he urged an audience of 5,000 people. “Accept no delays. And accept no substitutes.”

A day after Colorado Gov. Roy Romer confronted Bush in front of television cameras to complain about what has been called White House budget “gimmickry,” the President insisted that he bore “no hard feelings” about the tense East Room episode.

But White House aides, clearly troubled by the unexpected challenge and its symbolic significance, sought out reporters in an attempt to minimize its impact. Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater accused Romer of being “rude to the President” and using “the cheapest trick in the world” in a bid for press attention.

And W. Henson Moore, the new deputy chief of staff, walked to the aft cabin of Air Force One to declare to reporters: “Just let it be clear, by God, that we don’t think the President’s plan is a gimmick.”

As Bush sought to regain his political footing in the wake of the attacks, he used his appearance here to test a tuned-up stump speech punctuated with rosy tributes to the end of the Cold War and victory in the Persian Gulf War as well as sharp new attacks on naysayers, regulators and lawyers.

He also renewed a call for attention to an Administration proposal for legal reform, which seeks to discourage frivolous lawsuits in federal courts by requiring losers to pay court costs, among other measures. The bill, called the Access to Justice Act of 1992, was introduced by House and Senate Republicans on Tuesday.

But the minds of White House officials were closely focused on polls that show Bush’s budget and tax plans have found little resonance and on criticism from Democrats and some within his own party, who have dismissed the plans as inadequate.

As he faced the danger that a hoped-for boost might now slip away, Bush turned up the volume as he sought, in the words of Chief of Staff Samuel K. Skinner, “to sell the American people” on the idea that his proposals make sense.

“Some may complain that they lack the flash of an expensive new program or that they don’t have quite the right political ring for this election year,” Bush said, his voice rising to an angry pitch, “but I’m not seeking spending for spending’s sake.

“I don’t want a fancy title on a bill that will shoot interest rates right up there through the roof,” he continued. “I want results.”

The White House had chosen a sympathetic crowd in the grocers organization, whose executive board voted last Saturday to endorse Bush’s tax and budget plans, and his speech was interrupted frequently by enthusiastic applause.

As he pounded his fist for emphasis--but consulted a Teleprompter for his script--he seemed also to have regained a rhythm and a fire that has been lacking in some recent appearances. “Our economy has slowed down,” he began. “We must get it fired up again.

“And the professional pessimists tell us America has become weak and disabled, that our economy has fallen and it can’t get up. Well, that is just plain bunk--it’s not true. And I’m going to tell you what we can do about it,” he said.