Clinton Relaxes in Calm Before Storm : Politics: In friendly territory, he decries proposed education funding cuts. He also recharges his batteries before beginning a counteroffensive to the GOP’s 100-day agenda.

President Clinton, recharging his political energies in the rural counties where he began his career, stepped up his attack on Republican-proposed cuts in federal funding for education Monday, saying that they would harm the economy’s long-term growth.

“If we walk away from education, when the 21st Century depends on what we know and what we can learn, it will be just as dangerous as it would have been for us to disarm in the middle of the Cold War,” Clinton said as he dedicated a new library building at Arkansas State University here.

“This is not rocket science. This is basic,” he said.

The President made his remarks before the most supportive audience possible. As governor of Arkansas, Clinton carried this Mississippi Delta region in six elections--and helped fund the construction of the library he was opening.

In a sense, his easy off-the-cuff day on the Arkansas State campus, where he spent hours mingling with old friends and supporters, was just another form of relaxation for the workaholic President.

But aides described the speech--and Clinton’s long weekend in his home state--as a deliberately restful prelude to a political counteroffensive the President plans to begin after the House Republicans complete the first 100 days of their congressional agenda this week.

“We think we’re about to turn the corner, and you’ll see it happen around the middle of April,” a senior White House official said.

One theme Clinton plans to use in his effort to recapture the political initiative is his oft-made argument that government spending on education is an investment in the long-term growth of the economy and should not be lumped in with government programs that merit cutbacks.

“The popular thing, of course, is just to talk about how the government would mess up a one-car parade . . . and say let’s just cut everything,” he said.

Instead, he added, “you should say to all of us: ‘Get that deficit down. Get this economy going. Be fair to American taxpayers. But do not cut education.’ ”

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The Republican majority in the House has proposed abolishing the Department of Education, which administers a variety of federal programs; ending the subsidy that pays the interest on some college tuition loans until the student graduates, and reducing funding for the Head Start program, which prepares poor youngsters for kindergarten.

Clinton appeared noticeably relaxed after two days of down-home politicking, two rounds of golf and simply being back in Arkansas.

Clinton delayed his return to Washington by 12 hours until this morning so he could join friends at a Mexican restaurant in Little Rock to watch the NCAA men’s basketball championship. UCLA defeated Arkansas, 89-78, for the title.