Bush Uses Barbs in Questioning Perot’s Tactics

In a sign of new-found unease at an undeclared challenge, President Bush on Sunday questioned the campaign tactics employed by Texas billionaire Ross Perot and suggested that his likely rival remains an enigma.

“If Ross Perot decides to run, then Ross Perot will have to do what everybody else does: Get the issues out there, talk about it,” Bush said. “And I’ll be doing the same thing--and let the American people decide.”

Until now, Bush had refrained from criticism of both Perot and Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee. In his latest remarks, published in an interview with the Dallas Morning News, he insisted that he had no intention of speaking ill of his rivals so early in the campaign.

But presidential aides conceded that his comments went far beyond anything he has said before about his rivals, adding that the interview appears to reflect his discomfort with what he regards as a baffling and ugly campaign.

Bush’s comments about Perot, in particular, bore unmistakable barbs as he wondered aloud whether the Texas businessman had offered solutions to what Perot has termed the nation’s biggest problems. And he used icy language in response to a question about the methods Perot has used to date in his unconventional campaign.

“I don’t plan to spend a lot of time on the Phil Donahue show. . . ,” Bush said. “I’m President. I try to conduct myself with a reasonable degree of dignity, seriousness.”

On a day when Bush’s mere appearance at the University of Notre Dame graduation ceremonies here was greeted with protest, Bush’s published comments reflected his clear concern at the course of a campaign he acknowledged had “not been a particularly pleasant period.”

The President used the commencement address here to warn that the American family was an “institution under siege” and to preach a gospel of traditional family values.

But a valedictory speaker won rousing cheers with remarks that challenged many of Bush’s policies, and one-fourth of the 2,300 graduates wore armbands objecting to the President’s presence in an election year. One student stood plainly visible in front of the podium and turned his back to Bush through the course of the 20-minute oration.

Bush had granted the interview to the Texas reporter Saturday as he flew from Dallas to Houston aboard Air Force One. As a national poll showed him trailing Perot for the first time, he voiced concern during the conversation at what he called “muckraking” press coverage of his children and their business dealings.

Speaking after the Los Angeles Times and other news organizations published lengthy accounts of those ties, Bush complained: “All of a sudden, for strange reasons, people are trying to suggest that these kids are less than honest, and it really burns me up.”

White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater suggested later that the stories had been inspired by Democratic Party Chairman Ronald H. Brown, who he said had “talked all the (Washington) bureau chiefs into doing them, and they’re unjustified.”

Bush called the investigation “a sorry process.” In language that echoed complaints issued by Clinton throughout the campaign, the President said in defense of his children: “The media ought to be ashamed of itself for what they’re doing.”

Bush insisted in the interview that he remained confident of winning reelection and said his optimism was based in large part on his optimism that the nation’s economic recession “is history.”

He struck an occasional gracious note in acknowledging that Perot, a fellow Texan, had “captured the imagination of a lot of people.” He said it had been “tempting at times” to criticize both Perot and Clinton, but vowed: “I’m not going to do it.”

He nevertheless seemed unable to resist answering questions about the Texas billionaire and did not disguise his attitude toward Perot’s candidacy. Asked about Perot’s complaint that he had paid too little heed to the budget deficit, Bush replied: “Maybe I missed the answer to it. Has he offered an answer to it?”

Fitzwater later sought to minimize the remarks as “gentle stuff,” but he acknowledged that Bush had been particularly angered by the “Democrat-inspired” news accounts raising questions about the business relationships maintained by his sons and his brother.

The articles have quoted critics who suggested that members of the Bush family have profited from their ties to individuals who sought them out because of their influence and access.

In the published interview, Bush complained that one of his sons had received about 80 phone calls “from people trying to dig up dirt on him.”

“We have leaned over backward to try and keep the public trust in these matters,” he said. “To see it all turned down by muckraking, I don’t like it. I don’t think they are making headway with the American people.”

At the Notre Dame commencement ceremonies, Bush received an honorary doctorate as he was hailed as the “leader of the Free World.” But he was preceded to the lectern by class of 1992 valedictorian Sarah J. McGrathy, who criticized such rhetoric as “self-congratulatory” and “divisive.”