Bush Refuses to Get ‘All Bogged Down’ on Tax, Budget Cut Details

President Bush, who has promised across-the-board tax cuts as well as spending cuts in his second term, refused Wednesday to get “all bogged down” in providing specific details about his plan.

On a day when he convened a White House news conference to outline a new hard line toward Iraq, Bush was unenthusiastic about shedding more light on a politically charged domestic issue.

Asked at a White House news conference whether he expects voters to accept his plan “on faith,” Bush said his goal remains to “make sure people know the fundamental difference” between him and the Democratic nominee, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton.

“One side wants to raise taxes and raise government spending. My view is that we must cut taxes and cut government spending.”

The news conference served as Bush’s first opportunity since the Republican Convention to answer questions about the plans he put forward there. But he seemed to endorse advisers’ hints that he did not plan to become more specific.

Apart from pledging both tax cuts and reduced spending, Bush has called for a tax-checkoff plan that would allow voters to dedicate as much as 10% of their income taxes to reducing the national debt. Such a plan would require spending cuts beyond those necessary to compensate for the tax cuts.

Campaign Chairman Robert M. Teeter and other top Bush aides have indicated that the President plans to wait until after the election before identifying what programs would be targeted.

Although Bush seemed to hold out the prospect that he might become more specific between now and November, he said he believes that “the philosophy” of what he has promised is more important than “the details of it.”

A senior Bush aide acknowledged Monday that some GOP advisers had become uneasy about the lack of specificity. With Clinton charging that Bush’s vagueness leaves voters with no reason to trust what he has promised, some are said to be arguing that the White House needs to fill in more of the blanks.

One senior official, insisting on anonymity, outlined a detailed plan that he said would allow Bush to call for a 1% across-the-board tax cut without calling for spending reductions beyond those he has already proposed.

But the official indicated that no decision has been made to release that plan in a formal manner.

Bush himself--after announcing that U.S. warplanes would take control of the skies over Iraq beginning this morning--hurried to Louisiana to survey hurricane damage there.

As he had in rushing to Miami on Monday, he took advantage of a fleet of government planes and helicopters to make the journey in near-record time--a taxpayer-funded advantage of incumbency that Clinton cannot match.

Defending his hasty travels, Bush said in Louisiana: “I think a President ought to show what he feels in his heart. . . . I want to at least let them know we’re going to try to help.”

At the Washington news conference, Bush also muted the campaign-style rhetoric that has seen him emphasize “family values” and his love of God in politically pointed ways. “I don’t think one side is more patriotic than the other,” he said. “I’m going to continue to talk about the values that are very, very important.”

Bush also swerved from a direct response when asked whether he would participate in the three presidential debates scheduled by a bipartisan commission. Clinton has accepted, but Bush said he is not ready to commit himself.