Bush Calls Economy ‘Lousy’--and Seeks to Shield Himself From Blame : Politics: President vows not to raise taxes again, criticizes Congress and tries to spread the misery by citing ‘global recession.’

President Bush had one word Wednesday to describe the state of the economy, and two words of advice.

The economy? “Lousy,” he said.

How, he was asked, could his audience help him meet his goals?

“Vote often,” he cracked.

In a low-key series of political appearances--first in two small, semi-rural Pennsylvania towns northwest of Philadelphia and then at a rally in the parking lot of a Veterans of Foreign Wars hall in this central Jersey coastal town--Bush began warming up to one of the most difficult issues facing him over the next eight weeks: The sour state of the economy over which he has presided.

Seeking to inoculate himself from criticism that he broke his 1988 pledge not to raise taxes, Bush said: “I went along with one Democratic tax increase and I’m not going to do it again, ever. Ever.”

In his frank acknowledgment that the economy was in a sour state, Bush sought to spread the misery around, saying: “We’re in a global recession. It’s not just the United States. Take a look at Canada. Take a look at England and France and Germany. It has been too long.”

The subject arose one day before the President delivers what his aides have built up as a major speech on the economy before the Detroit Economic Club.

The economy offered an undercurrent to the questions presented to Bush at Uniform Tubing Inc. in Collegeville, Pa. Asked what he would tell workers who have lost their jobs, Bush said: “We’ve been caught in a very tough economic time.

“Let me say this on the economy: It is lousy. We know that. We’ve been trying to stimulate it,” he said.

Bush sought to turn on the Democrats--and on their presidential nominee, Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton--the “misery index” that another Southern governor, Jimmy Carter, used on a Republican incumbent, Gerald R. Ford, in 1976. The index combined the rate of inflation and unemployment, and when Carter was defeated for reelection in 1980, Bush said, it had risen to 21.9. Now, he said, it is “down to around 10.” With unemployment at 7.6% and inflation at 3.1% for the six months ended last June, it is actually edging up to 11.

Earlier in the day, during a picture-taking session at a White House meeting with Republican congressional leaders, Bush said that “the American people will see” that he had “tried to stimulate this economy and been rebuffed” by Congress.

“I don’t think they see it yet. But they will when we get through. Of course,” he said, “there’s a lot of politics in this.”

The trip Wednesday was the first of three one-day excursions the President is making out of the White House this week, hitting one after another some of the key battlegrounds of the election campaign. In addition to the stop in Michigan today, he will visit Missouri and Virginia on Friday.

In Pennsylvania, with 23 electoral votes at stake, and in New Jersey, with 15 electoral votes, Bush was campaigning in important--and, this year, not necessarily friendly--territory. Two hundred seventy votes in the electoral college are needed to win.

According to government figures made public last week, Pennsylvanians’ income fell 1.3% after adjustment for inflation last year, and in New Jersey, the rate of decline was 2.4%--figures that do not encourage confidence in the economy.

Bush opened his visit to Pennsylvania with a speech at the Norristown High School, stressing his education goals and, in particular, his support for a proposed program that would give parents a choice of sending children to public, private or parochial schools and would provide up to $1,000 in tuition payments.

The “school choice” program is a favorite campaign topic for Bush in Pennsylvania, where a large Roman Catholic population favoring parochial schools is considered a key voting bloc.

Today on the Trail . . .

Bill Clinton is in Little Rock, Ark.

President Bush campaigns in Detroit

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TELEVISION

President Bush addresses the Detroit Economic Club. C-SPAN will air live at 5 p.m. PDT.