Clinton’s Economic Plan Is a ‘Pipe Dream,’ Quayle Says : Politics: The vice president launches a subdued attack in Arkansas in light of disappointing jobless figures.

Vice President Dan Quayle dropped in on Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton’s hometown Thursday to launch an assault on the putative Democratic nominee’s economic strategy but found his maneuver undercut by the release of rising unemployment figures.

Quayle, who rarely hesitates to gleefully bash his opponents, was uncharacteristically somber and subdued. He called Clinton’s plan a “pipe dream” that failed to adequately address the root of the nation’s economic problems.

“You don’t just get economic growth by saying you’re for it,” Quayle told 1,400 members of the Rotary Club gathered here for the first of two appearances by the vice president.

Quayle also issued a forceful defense of the Administration’s handling of the economy, saying that progress had been quashed by the refusal of the Democratic-controlled Congress to pass Bush’s proposals.

“Don’t hold him accountable when you’re not going to allow the President to get his economic growth package through the Congress,” said Quayle, who challenged Clinton to persuade Democrats to go along with Bush’s plan to “see if it works.”

Clinton, who on Thursday began an official four-day vacation, told reporters at a Little Rock golf course that the President’s economic policies had played a role in the rise of joblessness to 7.8% nationally.

“This Administration’s been nothing but pipe dreams, fairy tales and blaming other people from the beginning,” Clinton said.

“They have got to stop making excuses for their failures and get this country in step if we’re going to have growth and jobs and opportunity,” he said.

While technically vacationing, Clinton also worked at paring down his short list of vice presidential candidates--an announcement that he hopes to make next week. He would not discuss his deliberations, other than to say that he had not yet made a decision.

Clinton’s economic plan, revised from earlier proposals and released on June 21, called for tax hikes on those making more than $200,000 a year, a $20-billion federal outlay to “rebuild America,” increased funding for education and job training and a universal health care plan.

Under his proposal, deep cuts would be made in the defense budget and in the federal bureaucracy. In announcing the plan, Clinton said it would cut the deficit in half in four years--a pledge premised on healthy economic growth.

Quayle, however, said that Clinton had not addressed how to slow the spiraling costs of required programs like Social Security and Medicare that comprise much of the federal budget.

“Two-thirds of the budget is mandatory spending, yet the ‘National Economic Strategy’ doesn’t touch mandatory programs,” said the vice president, who touted the Administration’s proposal to cut the growth of such entitlement programs to 1% to 3% yearly.

“We’re not talking about cutting mandatory programs. We’re talking about restraining their growth.”

Quayle also said the Clinton plan ultimately would require broad tax increases, despite the Arkansas governor’s pledge to raise taxes only on the wealthiest 1% to 2% of Americans.

“The problem is when they start to define who wealthy is, it turns out to be anyone who has a job,” he said.

Quayle acknowledged that his criticism of Clinton’s economic plan was tempered somewhat by the release of figures showing joblessness on the rise, a development he termed “disappointing.”

The vice president’s second stop in Little Rock came before police officers at the Fraternal Order of Police lodge house. There, the vice president was awarded a wooden plaque “in appreciation for your commitment to family values.”

Quayle told police officers and their families that he would continue to press his case for “family values.” That in turn led reporters to ask whether he meant to suggest that Clinton was wanting in terms of values.

“Look, values are a legitimate issue, character is a legitimate issue,” Quayle said when asked if a candidate’s infidelity was grist for the presidential campaign.

While he said that voters would decide for themselves whether infidelity mattered, he did add that “I think it’s wrong, yes. I think the American people ought to know who the candidates are.”

Clinton has acknowledged past problems in his marriage but earlier this year denied the claims of Gennifer Flowers that they had had a 12-year affair. While the governor was not available for comment on Quayle’s remarks, spokeswoman Dee Dee Myers said Clinton would be “happy to be judged on what he stands for.”

“Dan Quayle and George Bush stand for economic decline,” she said. “If they allow this election to be a debate about economic growth and policy, surely they will lose.”

Quayle’s focus on Clinton reflects the growing belief on the part of the GOP ticket that potential independent candidate Ross Perot will falter and Clinton, who is experiencing a renewed boomlet of support, will prove to be their strongest opposition in November.

The vice president’s spokesman, David Beckwith, said the overall higher tone of Quayle’s remarks did not necessarily presage a campaign of substance.

“We will sink into the gutter later,” Beckwith joked.