Clinton Attacks Bush Economic Policy : Campaign: Arkansas governor backs threatened submarine in Connecticut. President refers to ‘crass political game.’

Standing outside a shipyard that manufactures the endangered Seawolf submarine, Democratic front-runner Bill Clinton accused President Bush on Monday of advocating a “do nothing” policy on the economy.

One day before the Connecticut primary, Clinton triumphantly held aloft a Boston Globe story on Bush’s remarks to members of Congress after his recent veto of a Democratic economic package. “ ‘Do nothing’ on economy, Bush advises lawmakers,” the Globe headline read.

“President Bush yesterday summed up his economic policy in two words: Do nothing,” Clinton told a crowd of submarine builders at the Electric Boat division of General Dynamics Corp. in Groton. The workers are threatened with layoffs because of the Bush Administration’s plans to cancel the Seawolf, which Clinton says he would retain.

General Dynamics, the second-largest employer in the state, already has laid off about 1,600 shipyard workers over the last 21 months and plans to let another 2,200 go in April.

Clinton accused the President of disregarding the people. “We treat workers like they’re disposable paper cups,” he said.

On Monday, Bush defended his decision to cancel the submarine. He gave interviews to three Connecticut television stations by satellite on the eve of the primary, where he is heavily favored. Bush did not mention anyone by name. But he mimicked an imaginary politician in saying: “ ‘When I go to some different area or different plant, I’ll tell them I’ll keep theirs open.’ That’s the oldest, most crass political game in the world.”

The President’s Republican opponent, Patrick J. Buchanan, is on the ballot but has made little effort. Buchanan supports the Seawolf to maintain technological superiority.

The other Democrat in the race, former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr., refuses to “second-guess” the cancellation, but says the Administration should find jobs for displaced workers.

Clinton spent most of the day attacking Bush in a state that ranks among those most dependent on defense industry contracts. Accompanying the Arkansas governor were Connecticut Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, and Pennsylvania Sen. Harris Wofford, all of whom have endorsed him.

The time and money Clinton has spent in Connecticut, where only 53 Democratic convention delegates are at stake, underscored the nervousness in his campaign about Brown’s prospects. Clinton aides said they believe Brown may pick up much of the support that had been directed at former Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas, who suspended his campaign last week. Tsongas had been expected to win the state.